The Original Juice

BlackBerry Torch 9810

2012-02-01T14:41:00.000+08:00

My contract ended exactly on my birthday last year, 22nd Dec 2011. But the stock for the phone I wanted, Sony Ericsson's Xperia Mini Pro, are long gone. So I was at a lost at what phone to buy. Two of my important criteria were:

1. Physical QWERTY keyboard
2. Front Facing Camera

But there were not many in the market with BOTH of the criterion. Its either 1 or 2 or OUT OF STOCK. GRRRRRR

On an impulse, I went to buy this Blackberry Torch 9810 when I passed by Starhub shop one lunch time. I tried it for a couple of weeks but decided couldn't get used to it. I'm going to sell it away or in exchange for an iPhone 4 or 4S.

Anyways, let me list down what I like about the BB:

The keyboard is indeed very good. I LOVE IT.
Even though the sliding mechanism seems fragile, I actually had a good grip of the phone, ergonomically speaking!
The SOUND and alerts were very good. I hated iPhone's sound profile just up and down the volume. BB has sound profile for "Shhhh" "Vibrate only" to "LOUD" or whatever. and the LOUD was VERY loud, ideal for when you are outdoors and the silent is very discreet for when we are in the office. iPhone? in office, the softest is still too loud, the loudest not loud enough. GRRR
I LOVE the option of HIDING ICONS and arranging in folders. You must know that I try to be very organised when I have the time. I don't like a cluttered Desktop. Same goes to phone.
The Youtube application is different from iPhone. There are also pros and cons to this difference. The Pro being that it is exactly like how you see in on the computer - ie you can search by USERname which u can't on iPhone.

I did not get around to syncing my phone but i heard it is very hassle free.

Basically the reason why I can't get used to BB is the Applications. People have warned me about it being a business phone and therefore not many games. I didn't really mind that part, so long as the standard FB, Twitter, whatsapp and youtube are available I'm good to go.

What I didn't expect was that the applications also LOOK business-like. There was not much room for customization.
I had problems with the social feeds... it was not loading? even after restarting bla bla bla... I even downloaded a 2nd twitter app but to no avail.
I didn't like the email application doesn't allow me to view emails already stored in folders. Don't even get me started on the MESSAGES folder. It's like a notification window but it's like a duplicate all over the place! Eg: I already checked and deleted my email, but its not reflected in this Messages folder and I had to delete it again. Not efficient, is what I think. Ironic.
I had a problem with the favourites and History of the Youtube application. Because it runs like a true browser, there's no thumbnail or even a description of your favourites and History... instead just the first few characters of the URL. How the hell do i differentiate them??
And helloooo... is there really just ONE ALARM timing for the whole phone???

Maybe I'm wrong because I did not get to explore the phone much. But from the other reviews I read, seem like you need to get a lot of Applications to customize... say the notification light and whatever else..

Right now, my 2 year old iphone 3GS is dying... the battery can only last 3-4 hours with much use... if nobody wants to buy my BB i guess i'll just hafta make do with it.... =(

How I Met My "Angel"

2012-01-27T09:33:00.000+08:00

Some of you may have seen this photo on my FB - but this will be the full story of how I discovered this gem.

I still remember that fateful day 3rd of October 2011, my first sister, Ashley, begged and begged me to go with her to Wellness Express Studio (just across the street) for moral support on her first liquid lunch. I was totally dragging my feet to go there because I wanted to eat REAL FOOD. But because I'm a *cough* good *cough* sister, I followed along.

I just listened to what her coach shared with me about the benefit of good nutrition.. How the aloe concentrate mixed with water helps to clean your internal system, and how 500ml of their thermogenic tea is equivalent to running twice around the tracks. I did not doubt the product. What I doubted was the taste and whether it could truly keep me full. I did the free health evaluation but walked away free.

As time goes, Ashley updated me how she's been going there every lunch time that she was available and how she had lost 1kg after a few drinks. And the bell started ringing for me and i thought, "Why not just give it a shot? You've run out of other options. Slimming centre is too expensive. Don't have time for gym. Cant take slimming pills cos not BFing safe."

With that, I bought a 10-day membership pass to drink the shake-tails (chocolate/vanilla/tropical base shake + assortment of fruits) for lunch. After my 5th session, I discovered I actually lost 1kg! I actually was still not entirely convinced. I mean weighing yourself in the morning, you will often find you are 1kg lighter before breakfast. so 1kg was like... nothing.

And then they started bugging me to enter the Weight Loss Challenge to potentially win $1,000 / $500 / $100 / $50 / $50. You have nothing to lose, just fats! The reason why I was so reluctant was because I'm afraid I'd be lazy to make my shakes in the morning. I like drinking it for lunch when OTHER people made it for me. But what one of the operators told me kinda sink in, "You just need to work hard the first 3 - 6 months. After you've reached your ideal weight, you just need to maintain..." I took another couple of session to finally sign up for the WLC.

To make a long story short, I lost 5kg and 3% body fat by the end of the 1-mth challenge. I did not win but I still walked away happier than ever having lost so much and stayed motivated throughout the process, thanks to my sisters and my coach.

That was end of November. December was my "off" month due to my 2 weeks holiday to Turkey and Spain (To be blogged!!!). Surprisingly I maintained my weight with just one shake a day but A LOT of eating! I've lost a further 2kg as of today. and have another 6kg to go till 55kg.

I'm VERY DETERMINED to be healthy! *wink*

We Shifted Office!

2012-01-23T14:05:00.001+08:00

28th Nov 2011

After almost a year of nervous "anticipation", we finally shifted office across the street. We are the anchor tenant and have the naming rights to this building.

There are pros and cons to this new place, but one thing's for sure, I am sorely missing the old office. Here's a few reasons why:

Old Desk

This may look a bit impersonal because I had already packed all my stuffs

New desk

A colleague aptly described the move from an Executive Apartment to a 3 room flat!

Bosses and us siting all in one row -_-

Cabinet cum walkway

In short, its very very terribly OPEN!

Old single cubicle toilet

One of the old cubicles with a ledge that I used to rest my head on to catch a wink or two

New sinks

They may look classy but another colleague said its too small that it creates lotsa splashes on the floor when we brush our teeth or take ablution

Well, at least there's one cubicle fitted with a washing facility

Old pantry

Futher inside

MASSIVE new pantry complete with microwave, real fridge and HUGE TV!

Ok so far, the only thing i'm loving is this pantry.

This new site is certainly "near" to the mrt bcos it is linked underground the train station, and there are many (almost 20?) restaurants and food shops at level 1 and B1 of our building... unfortunately, only 2 are halal and other shops selling fruits and yogurt or coffee that we can patronise. And because they are restaurants, they cost at least $10 for lunch -_- I miss my Dudu Cafe... I can get $1 meals if I want to!

We don't have good bus stop here too whereas we had 2 stops to choose from before and both equally near and convenient.

Ok ok... one another thing to be thankful for is... We have a "proper" place to pray now. I used to pray in my meeting room, that's ok it's comfortable but sometimes it is in use and I had to use the bigger meeting room with see-thru glass panels or use the stairs. Here, the cleaners offer us the use of the tea room with a huge sink to do our wudhu' and we can even lock it! Now, I can pray at ease instead of constantly hoping (even in the midst of prayer) that no one will enter the meeting room. HAHA.

Tufeil's Weaning Complete!

2012-01-19T13:18:00.000+08:00

It was on my birthday on 22nd Dec last year when I finally finally decided enough was enough. I am not letting Tufeil any of milk anymore! Don't mention about the pain and discomfort and lack of sleep from his 2 hourly snack through the night, but its more for both our mental well being, I imagine. LOL

Anyway, we just came back from our Turkish/Spanish holiday and were terribly jetlagged. I took one day urgent leave that was followed by the Xmas long weekend to recover from it. And so I thought, let's kill two birds with one day and take this opportunity to wean Tufeil off.

Firstly, was to get a change of scene. Me and Tufeil slept with my mum in her room while my dad had to sleep in mine. For the first 3 nights he didn't sleep till 3am. Dad helped to entertain him and mum helped to shush him when he woke up. He tossed and turned tossed and turned but finally he was too tired and fell asleep. If he woke up and cried for milk i just kept telling him "Mummy's milk is sick" and he would understand.

On the 4th night, we graduated back to our own room. He went to sleep watching videos from the computer. Luckily I have a wireless mouse so i could still lay down with him while at the same time click Replay on whatever is his favourite Youtube video of the moment. Initially I thought that its better to just play a longer video / movie for him so that he can fall asleep easily because there's not much excitement of changing to the next video or whatever. But turned out the opposite is true. A short video of say... 3 min is most ideal because it remains exciting even if you replay 5 times and usually by the 5th time, Tufeil would have fallen asleep.

I was a bit worried that school was about to reopen and his sleeping pattern was still not corrected. But the day before we went out and he got so tired he slept early. and by early i meant 12mn. And then slowly after the first week, his bedtime crept earlier and earlier till now he sleeps at 9.30pm back to usual timing before being weaned off. However, at this point of writing, he's been waking up at around midnight, cried like crazy just as I was about to go to sleep too that I couldn't pacify him. He let himself out, cried at the hallway waiting for my mum to open her room door and slept with her. Although I was relieved to not have to listen to him cry... i found myself not able to sleep without him on the bed with me =( It's been two nights like this. I hope it gets better.

Yes, I totally feel disconnected ever since I stopped breastfeeding him. In good times, i would bear hug him, tickle him senseless and everything but once he started crying, i just switched off. I don't know why he just won't be pacified by me and want his grandparents instead. But then again, kids are clever, they know how to play you. For eg: Tufeil, at bathtime, if it's my mum who brought him to the toilet, who would cry asking for me. And if it was me, he would ask for my mum. Aiyoooo!!

Anyways, immediately following the successful weaning, I had to work late a couple of nights and didn't really get to spend time with him. And our bond, to me, grew distant. When he was having fever, I thought, "Nahh it's ok... my mum can help to take care of him" I did not feel the urgency or need to be with my sick son. Is there something wrong with me? To be clear, i did take childcare leave on the 3rd day and he got well soon after.

So for the record, Tufeil was 2yrs 9 months old when he finally weaned off the Bmilk.

Helpful Helper

2012-01-19T00:38:00.000+08:00

Alhamdulillah ALL thanks and praises to Allah who has answered our prayers to get a good helper.

We were close to exasperation. With 6 adults and 3 kidsamong us, we couldn't manage to keep the house settled for more than a few hours. The laundry is always piled high. Hair balled up on the floor. Toys EVERYWHERE! It was terrible.

It was finally agreed that we need to get a helper and we got a recommendation to get from Lemann Employment Agency.

In the beginning, we got one while my parents and I were away on holiday. She only worked 5 days. My sister was a bit sad because she was very good at cleaning. But because she was not flexible with our extra requirements like ferrying between two houses since my sister's children will be at my mum's and donning the hijab and no off days, we felt it was for the best that she left.

We were quite apprehensive about getting the next one. Because we are only left with onechance to change, we truly hoped we got the right person. Again, all praises and thanks to Allah, Wati joined our family just before the year 2011 ended.

She is about 7 yrs older than me, lost her husband to cancer while she was at work overseas earning money for his treatment, has one grown up married daughter. She sold everything she had had in Indonesia and now she's working for her retirement age. She's soft spoken, very caring and has a can-do attitude. whilst we think her housekeeping are not top of the range, we are very happy that she voluntarily and happily helps us with the chores as well as some springcleaning.

With this, I feel less guilty to work overtime or over the weekends because I know my mum has a lighter burden now with Wati to help here and there. In fact, I'm actually going on my first holiday totally ALONE. No baby. No family. In February to KL for 5 whole days! It's a shame that it couldn't be anywhere farther and more exotic but I'm attending a seminar and I don't imagine I could go at all if it weren't for that seminar excuse.

So there.

JB

2011-12-10T10:25:00.002+08:00

Saturday 19th Nov 2011,

We crossed the border to Johor Bahru to buy clothes for Tufeil among other things. We wanted to check out the winter jacket but apparently its not the wool kind that I wanted and saw on gmarket selling for $25.

I got the task of babysitting the kids while the rest went to pray...

Entertained them with massage chairs

Tufeil was afraid of it though but kept asking for it again and again. I really don't understand this habit of his!

Let them jump around

Then it was my dad's turn to babysit T while me and my mum hunt for clothes. When I got back to them, I came to this scene!

Atok & Tufeil

I got Rainbow ice cream cone

And i don't care if i have ice cream moustache

He hadn't asked for ice cream in a longgggg time cos i kept telling him if he eats it he wil get the cough. He must have forgotten about it. Now when i say no to him, he knows who to ask from. hahahah KIDS!

Reservoir

2011-12-09T09:15:00.002+08:00

Monday, 7th Nov 2011

Since the Eidul adha holiday fell on a Sunday, it got brought forward to Monday. And my parents brought us to er.... SeleterReservoir, i believe its called. HAHAHA

It was a hot day and both T and I were wearing double layered clothes. -_- I don;t know why I did that.

My mum was sitting somewhere out there

We were heading to this pavilion

And saw flowers growing in this stone barricade

Syifaa' & Tufeil

ON the bridge to the pavilion

there were some fish

So diff to get T to smile at the camera

Alahhhai so loving! WHEN THEY ARE NOT FIGHTING every other second!

Korbaan

2011-12-08T09:15:00.000+08:00

Sunday, 6th Nov 2011

Tufeil and I missed out the prayers by minutes. So, instead, my parents brought us to see the sheeps and lambs at Darul Makmur Mosque and Sembawang Malay Settlement Mosque. The latter is sooo deep in the jungle and the Kampung house-turned-mosque is sooo authentic you felt transported into a period Malay drama. Unfortunately, I was too engrossed at feeding the sheeps leaves in between holding Tufeil's hands and my own skirt that I didn't manage to snap any pictures...

But here's how our day went ...

Darul Makmur
The sheeps barricaded at the side of the building. Some were drinking the water from the aircon, some were biting the wires!

Huddled together as though they needed hugs before the slaughter

The slaughter-house

We proceeded to Nenek Jah and Atok Tajul's house (My sister's parents in law) for breakfast with yet another mini birthday celebration for Sophia

Tufeil followed the birthday song

Tufeil and the birthday girl

"Atok, Tufeil nak ice cream"

*Ahhhhhm*

*YUUUUMMMM*

Colouring session

Tufeil got Spongebob!

Afterwards, we went to my paternal aunt's place where there were two bigger girls, Tufeil's 2nd cousins. The kids enjoyed themselves playing at the balcony. I tell you, children are very oblivious to heat and cold when they are hard at play!

Nearly Got Fooled

2011-12-08T08:38:00.000+08:00

This is super scary. It looked quite authentic with the logo and everything. But I didn't believe I needed to update my mailbox size or account update like they ask below. Esply when they asked for my PASSWORD via return email!

I was almost nearly duped cos i hit reply and THEN i noticed that it really is a scam... scroll down...

ACCOUNT UPDATE VERIFICATION

Dear Valid User,

Our Account users discovered series of illegal attempts on your mail account from different IP locations.This is for your own safety to avoid your account closed, you will have to verify your account by filling out your Log-in below by clicking the reply button. We apologies for any inconveniences.

User name:...............

Password:..................

Date Of Birth:.............

Occupation:................

Country Of Residence:......

After receiving the information requested you will be able to continue using your Account.

Customer Care

71594822

Copyright © 2011 Mail! Inc. (Co. Reg. No. 2344507D)All Rights

Reserved. Intellectual Property Rights

----- Forwarded Message -----

From: Yahoo! Member Service

To:

Sent: Thursday, 8 December 2011, 8:07

Other Things We did in October

2011-12-07T09:06:00.000+08:00

Mastered two McQueen jigsaw puzzles

Having breakfast of...

Honey stars and Choc milk

We went to my colleague's wedding (Malay Guy) at Jamiyah Islamic Cte. We met up at Aljunied mrt and got into two cars.

Tufeil readily accept being carried by my colleague when i refused to. HAHA

He had fun throwing this honey star action figure at my other colleague

It was great. But it would be even greater if there were no language barrier. He can speak English but it's always mixed with some Malay so it's diff for non Malay speakers to understand... Took the train home

Happy 5th Birthday, Syifaa' Zakirah!

We had a mini bash with my sister's in laws and one other cousin whose birthday is just the next day. The most fun part was when the kids played musical chairs. Even T played. The first time around, when the music stopped and everybody rushed to grab a seat and the adults were cheering loudly, Tufeil was baffled and asked my dad, "Atok, kenapa?" "Grandpa, why?"

OH and btw, my sister baked that birthday cake herself.

Played this at the bazaar

What's that?

We killed a baby lizard
And by we, i meant, my dad.

Other observations in this month (2yrs 7 months old)

He started to sleep longer almost 8 hours before he asked for my milk
of course there were still nights when he woke up in 2 hours, saw me at the computer and pleaded, "Mummyyy... tidooooo" (....Sleep)
One method of diversion before sleep: "Kejap neh... Tufeil nak tanya atok..." "HOld on, I wanna ask Grandpa"
But when he was ready for sleep, he would arrange a mini pillow on top of a normal pillow fo rmy head just the way I like it. =)
I've shown him how to twist open the door knob to open the door. He managed to do it a couple of times but just gave up to do it again afterwards. There's a plus and minus to this. Minus: I would hafta wake up in order to let him out of the bedroom. Plus: He can't let himself out when i'm doing a time-out in a room.
When he accompanied me to the hairdresser, Tufeil said, "Wahhh pandai sey mummy potong rambut." "Mummy's so clever get a hair cut"
He's also begun saying things like "Tak fair sey" (Not fair)

Till then..

Tufeil & 'Affaan @ the Airport

2011-12-07T08:38:00.000+08:00

26th Oct 2011

What can I say? Our airport is great! It's huge for the kids to run around. It's got a free playground, indoor playground, a giant slide, ample parking space, you get to watch planes land and take off...

In any case, Tufeil and I came here again to meet with the 11 besties. Only 3 others could make it though. LOL.
I'm kinda in a hurry to finish writing before I go off on holidays... So just enjoy the pictures.

See-Saw at free playground with the slide on the background

Ok the playground itself is kinda small

The floor is just calling them to lie down

Maybe they wanna make snow angel... only its made of dust instead

What did I say about the space?

GIANT SLIDE!!!

Quiet spot to rest / pray complete with our picnic mats! LOL

Don't worry we were not the only crazies

A stop at McD is almost a MUST

We've got to meet again, girls.

Best Working Sunday

2011-12-01T15:05:00.000+08:00

Sunday 9th Oct 2011

I cldnt stop gushing to anyone who wld listen what a great Sunday I had even tho I had to work. Everything fell into place so beautifully, Alhamdulillah.

Ok story goes tt late fri evening, I just realised tt the reports for our visiting big bosses were not sent to our colleague for printing. Altho my own boss said nevermind, we cld rush it out Monday morning, I was not confident we cld finish on time. So I decided to play it safe and do it over the weekend.

Not wanting to trouble my parents after they watched Tufeil for extended hours for 3 nights consecutively earlier in the week, I decided to bring Tufeil along. I was a bit nervous but prayed for the best.

Syifaa' who stayed w us for the weekend heard we were going out and wanted to follow too. I had to decline as i wasnt sure I cld handle two kids on my own. But then I remembered how the two of them could now play together very independently and happily barring any arguments. So I ventured to bring Syifaa' along..

So me and two kids, one in stroller, another one's hand holding mine pushing the stroller, took the train. It was Tufeil's naptime. He feel asleep on my shoulder and i talked to Syifaa' for a bit before both of us got sleepy too. She didnt quite sleep tho.

Luckily I remembered to drop by at Cheers at the train station to buy some form of lunch for the kids before walking to the office...

Sat them down on two vacant desks with paper and highlighters...

Syifaa' drew the blueberry she was drinking and wrote "I Love Bluberry"

Tufeil just brushed thru with her left hand too cos he was eating.

Can't put them too near though.

Inevitably, got some marks on the table where the paper did not cover. They were miraculously gone when I came to work on monday. haha Thank you Aunty.

Imagination at play...

They were playing house under the desk

Shhh Baby's sleeping

They laid around on the floor, explored the meeting rooms and looked out the window to watch some ships passing by... They really really really left me alone to do my work. They were totally oblivious of the heat because the air-con was not turned on.

Then there was this time when I went around one corner looking for them because they were suspiciously quiet. Found them crouching low on the floor behind a wall waiting to scare me but i scared them first. IT WAS SOOO FREAKING FUN!!!! That they could just run around and play without me having to worry about cars driving past or breaking glasses or hitting sharp corners.

We were there for almost 4 hours and not a word of complaint from the kids. There were two trips to the toilet when one or the other pooped. And then the parents came to pick us up and the rest is history...

Just Chillin' @ the Airport...

2011-12-01T14:27:00.000+08:00

OK this is gonna be an ancient post - 2 months old tmrw. But I've already drafted it from way back so it'd be a waste not to post. This is also the post that got me this writer's block and since I have a bit of free time right now, i thought I'd better be finished with writing this already.

Sunday 2nd Oct 2011 (2yrs 6months)

Parents said there was aviation exhibition at the airport so thought we'd check it out...

Love the space they can run around

His outfit for the day w new bottle - a first with strap.
After that day, he refused to sling it over his should so i stopped using this bottle

"Mummy, Triangle, Mummy"
It's a pyramid, darling

Since T kept close to his Atok, and Syifaa' with the nenek, I was quite free to snap photos

Ben 10 going to the shooting range?

Nahhh just watching some video clips and there were not even voice-overs, just music as background.

At the same time lunch snacking on a hot dog or two

Mum is always fascinated with flowers.

In front of the "exhibition" but it was really just a small few walls of information

I have this exact same post from 2 years ago! when he's just started crawling

Now can even navigate the steering wheels

And now he demands to go to the arcade altho he's scared of some of them like the totally harmless Mario kart

We were gonna do our prayers. In the meantime, let's sit on Atok's back

And lie down...

With legs up

OK kids, time to go home

We are crazy.

Gnocchi

2011-10-11T18:03:00.001+08:00

Saturday 8th oct 11.

Rinaz wrote about making gnocchi (some sort of pasta). It looked easy and the ingredients r very basic.

http://rinaz.net/2011/08/gnocchi/

Since i had no plans tt day, i decided to make it w Tufeil..

Boiled the potatoes w their skin on while Tufeil took a bath.. In the meantime i was making Jackie chicken too. Took the potatoes out, dressed Tufeil and then we peeled the not-so-hot-anymore potatoes. I gave him one to mash.

And he sampled the semi raw potatoes.

I added the egg, salt, pepper and flour n started to knead w my bare hands when Tufeil followed suit!

Except he put them into his mouth!

Chunks and chunks of them!!

I was very slow at making them into balls. .

Actually i wanted to shape them like worms so a bit exciting to eat.. Thankfully i gave up after 1/4 of the dough and just started boiling them bcos only then i realised the dough sticked back together and i had to reshape them all over again!!

In the meantime, the boy entertained himself....

Playing drum.. I just had to snap this for him to rmbr how he was able to squeeze into such a tiny corner!

You are supposed to eat the gnocchi w italian gravy like pesto or tomato base... When they were ready, I had a taste. Hmmm I dont see how Tufeil cld like this. So, sad to say, I binned them.

At least i ticked off one item off my List of Things to Cook...

No-Bake Rice Krispies Treat

2011-10-10T19:29:00.000+08:00

I was trawling the net for some simple Eid cookies when i stumbled upon this site:

http://elisataufik.blogspot.com/2006/10/easy-peasy-rice-krispy-treats-kuih-raya.html

My Fellow Al-Maarifians! Remember Cik Lah used to sell these back in... 1999?

It's almost impossible to find this now in Singapore and I was all for making it!!! But because we already had too much cookies, i had to postpone it. And Tufeil's Children's Day celebration just beckoned me to serve this.

First, let's go get the ingredients.

We went to Sheng Siong one weekday night because my sis also wanted to get Children's day goodies for her students as well.

I like this trolley! Can pull him in it!

After awhile he got tired and wanted to help push it instead.

Back at home, melt 3 tbs butter (150gm) in a big pot... and then 300 gm marshmallows...

The forgot tt the recipe actly called for WHITE marshmallows! So the effect became kinda brown...

After all melted, pour in 6 cups (250gm x 6) of Rice Krispies and fold until all is mixed well.

I hafta warn you tho tt it's kinda difficult with this stickiness. Buttered utencils are recommended. Oh luckily, I grabbed a second box of the cereal otherwise it won't be enough!

You're supposed to line the baking pan in which you're gonna pour this into with butter / oil or wax paper.

I just use foil.

Then wait for it to set (no longer sticky) before you cut them into squares.

The other suggestion by the author was to put in mini cups.

I wasn't sure if she did it AFTER the treat is set or before... so I tried both ways. But you need two pairs of hands for this because it hardened quick quickly. My mum actually suggested that i should just leave it on the stove top on slow fire to prevent it from setting. Hmmm im scared of heat but shall try that next time. Hope to do it again this sunday for Syifaa's birthday party =D

Turned out there are several creative ways to sweeten up your Krispies Treats!

Going out w 4 Work Friends

2011-10-10T13:52:00.000+08:00

Sunday 25th June 2011

Ok this is grossly outdated but important nonetheless to write about our first Hari Raya outing with 3 other friends from work. Actually this is the first time I go visiting with colleagues in all my 10year career (excluding a couple of open houses from donkey years ago).

What made it so sweet was all of our children are about the same age...

First house was mine @ 10.30am. Yani picked June up cause they live nearby. When they moved off, I was just about to hit the shower after settling my baby and my Beef Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. he he he... As a result, I was so busy, I didn't get to snap any pictures from my place.

Afterwards, we headed to Midah's place which is very near mine.

From left: Midah's girl Sophia, Tufeil, Yani's Hasha and Hanisah
(Sorry if I got the spelling wrong!)

Midah cooked for us Nasi Minyak and Chicken Curry

Not pictured: Yani! and the only other boy is June's Daaris

Why do boys like to play their cars lying down like that?

An attempt to get all the kids together

And then, all 4 of us adults and 5 kids got in one car and proceeded to June's place 25min away....

I was totally blown away when I discovered that June had the same bed set I had when I was single! Its one with 2 steps up to get to the desk... and your bed is hidden underneath! But while I had two single beds that you can pull out, hers got more storage in place of the second one.

Best of all is Daaris' room...

Full of toys!!!

All the kids entertained themselves in the room, while us adults talked...

All of us ... except Hasha who helped to take this photo.

Hasha & Tufeil
Look at how tenderly T looked at Hasha. LOL

Last house, Yani's. Tufeil was getting crankier cos he hadn't hap his nap and it was already... 3pm? He cried and cried wanting me to carry him to look at the fish tank altho it was well within his view! Somehow we managed to distract him with more toys... A short while later he was found to have sampled some plasticine -_- I think we managed to get most of it out tho...

The 4 of us... and a half. LOL

The day ended about 5pm... Midah dropped by my house because she wasn't able to make it in the morning... Tufeil was asleep and refused to be laid down. SO I had to serve my friend literally single-handedly. LOL

Anyways, it was sooo fun we promised to go out with the kids again sometime. =)

Children's Prom

2011-10-06T13:22:00.001+08:00

Today is Tufeil's first Children's Day celebration at sch.

The theme is Prom Night

I had wanted to buy a smart shirt n vest but it costs $59.90.

I settled for this s$16.90 long sleeve shirt instead. Bought it from a mobile cart airport Terminal 3z

My food contribution is Rice Krispies Treats. Will b posting pictures of tt and super easy "recipe" shortly.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pick me! Pick me!

2011-09-30T13:40:00.000+08:00

I'm supposed to write about how me and my colleagues went out for Eid visiting for the first time! But I haven't saved the pictures they've tagged me on FB yet... So you hafta take this instead...

I'm not sure if this is being OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) or not but I have this sort of habit to finish my stash before opening a new packet or box of something. For example, my stock of treasury tags, the green strings...

Please excuse the messiness of my drawer

Most of the time I will finish the ones that had been taken out from the box earlier, to the very last piece, before opening a new one. I feel like they're calling me to use them... they don't wanna stay in the drawer for long. They wanna be useful!

I will feel upset when a pen, whose ink I have been trying to finish before using a new one, suddenly disappear! It's like I don't have closure to using it till the very last drop!

At the grocery store when buying milk, I can't help feeling guilty when I choose the carton with the longest expiry date because I know I won't be using it to cook within the week.

I can almost hear them scream "Pick me! Pick me!!" Maybe I even sometimes secretly say, "Sorry, I have no choice."

Do you have this kinda though too? Or is it just me?

SWPH BerHari Raya... Not Quite.

2011-09-28T08:47:00.000+08:00

Saturday, 24th September 2011.

This is the last weekend of Syawal and I made the most of it. the SWPH group was supposed to meet at Fara's then visit Sue's, Nisa's and my house. As it turned out Fara couldn't make it because of family medical matter. Instead of calling the whole thing off, I suggested we just chilled at Sue's.

Tufeil and I woke up at 9.30am, got dressed and went for lunch at Long John Silver before taking the bus to tampines. Planned to take the cab from there to Bedok Reservoir but none was in sight. Luckily, there was another bus. Tufeil was already asleep. I had to walk from the bus stop to her block carrying a probably 11kg kid. Worse was I walked in the wrong direction!

This was Sue's own place. New house. New baby. Swell! I totally left Tufeil to his own devices playing with 3 other kids. Good thing Sameer doesn't mind playing with the little kids. Good boy he is =D

A short clip of SiddiQ and Tufeil "scratching" disks like deejays.

Siddiq's room!

We spent almost 3hours just talking and chillaxing! We should totally do this again, ladies!

Nisa, Sameer, Me & T by the common corridor

Afterwards, Me & T went to Tampines Interchange. It was frustrating that I had to carry him all the way everywhere! He didn't wanna walk! But I really needed to go to Starhub shop. I enquired about Blackberry Torch.. they have limited stocks and not buying more... I thought could recontract 6 months earlier but its only 3 months earlier =( I shall be patient for another 3 months then...

We took 168 home. It was just about dusk/maghrib time as we were walking home... Tufeil was asleep. I hoped to God he won't wake up so he won't hafta look at the Living Room when we come in. Alhamdulillah, he only woke up when i attempted to put him on the bed in the room. That's where we spent the entire night... with a couple of trips to the kitchen but totally avoided the Monster area.

I just got news that a neighbour told my other neighbour that she felt uneasy too when she came home late the last few nights. Aiyoooo

"Ada Monster!"

2011-09-20T15:03:00.000+08:00

Sunday 18th sept 2011

We woke up from our nap at 4pm and Tufeil wanted the choc i promised him if he took the nap and wanted to watch TV in the living room.

He stopped short at the end of the dining area where the fan is, looked at the sitting area and said

"ada monster!" (there's a monster!)

I dismissed him and proceeded to turn on the lights and fan to prove to him its ok. But instead he started to cry!

Now.. As a mother u tend to know when ur child is genuinely hurt or he's just milking it. And at tt point, i knew his fear was real. I quickly grabbed him, read a string of prayers and went into my parents' room. They jumped awake hearing him cry. And i thought to myself, "thank god im not alone!"

We talked and played on the bed for awhile... Then when my dad was ready i asked him to bring Tufeil out for an "its alright tour".

Later that evening, we went out for dinner and some errands. We reached home quite late almost 11pm. The moment we stepped in, he pointed to the living room again and said "ada monster". I didnt dare to analyze his cry, i blocked out my own fear, went straight to our room while calming him down.

Last night, ny parents picked me up from work at 9.30pm, then went grocery shopping. Reached home 11pm again. He started whining.. His face told me he was afraid but i believe its more bcos he still remembered the image he saw the other day rather than it was really there.

Seriously, i need to do something. The usual Ayat Kursi and 3 Quls dont seem to keep them at bay. The nightmares keep coming...

A Perfect Kind of Saturday

2011-09-19T21:27:00.000+08:00

17th September 2011

The day start quite early at 9am when Tufeil woke up. I forced myself to wake up and entertain him in order to start the day good. Otherwise, he would scream and scream and scream if I ignore him.

After having Pizza for breakfast (last night's leftover), I managed to cook two dishes for Tufeil for the weeks ahead. Just simple Pasta w minced chicken (canned pasta sauce haha) and Chicken Baked Rice (canned mushroom soup).

Suddenly almost 1pm, Tufeil declared he was sleepy and wanted a nap. I totally JUMPED at the opportunity and we both napped.. me till 4pm and T till 5pm! My 2nd sis called me like 10 times (phone always silenced at home) to tell me to get ready to go out.

Got ready as quick as lightning, walked to her place and got a taxi to... ION Orchard!

His ensemble for the day.

Because I didn't put on for him any socks (they are either outgrown or mismatched), I promised to get him a pair at Orchard, later.

Umar can fit in the stroller now!

We are here!!

First order of the evening: DINNER @ Fish & Co

I was pleasantly surprised at how prompt their service was that night. I had lunch at Suntec's branch twice and it took 30min for my fish n chips to arrive! And you know how precious lunch time is!!! Made me mad!

Anyway, they promptly seated us at a convenient seat to put a high chair and a stroller at the side. Gave us the kid's menu cum colouring sheet!

How come his smile seems more like a wince. LOL

Tufeil didn't mind sitting on the high chair cos he got to colour!

Fish Bites w Chips for Tufeil and Fish n Rice for Syifaa'

Love that they have kid's utencils and all!

We have Mushroom Chowder soup. Ly, my sister, thought it was a bit too floury. I tot the shitake mushroom tasted bitter, but then again, I don't really like shitake.

We shared the Seafood Platter for 1. Only about 15minutes into dinner, Umar was restless in his stroller so my poor sister had to hold him in one hand, ate with the other. Thankfully, by that time, Syifaa' also decided she's had enough and entertained Umar for a bit. Made me reminisce the time when Tufeil was young and I had to eat sooo quickly bla bla bla...

NOw when Tufeil gets restless, I just let him run around in the restaurant. =)

What's this?

Pirate's Hat that comes with the $6 kid's meal

We went straight to the prayer room at Royal Plaza. We took turns to pray bcos there was a flight of stairs and we cldn't carry the Stroller up.

Candles are a bit dangerous ley!

The ran around barefooted! *bags face*

McQueen!!!

Made of Macaroons!!

And then it was shopping time @ Isetan. M.A.C for Ly, Toys section for me.

Mirror = Golden Opportunity!

I couldn't stand looking at the Osh Kosh B'Gosh denim long overalls and bought Tufeil one even tho its priced at $60! Cos he's outgrown all his current ones! I also bought a Goofy Story book, a box of blocks @ $40 U.P. $50 But regretted it cos they are soo small!! Finally found 2 pairs of socks his size. and also he really wanted this toy ambulance. When we left the store, i realised it's not with us anymore! I actually called the number to register as LOST but to date, no calls from them. boohoohooooo...

And then we took the cab to airport. Wanted to send one of the 11 BestFriends off to Leeds for a year!

Mummy Y and the Kids

The real mummies took a break while Mummy Y entertained the kids

All of us who were there

Luckily, my our next door neighbour who is Nan's relative was also there. They gave us a ride home. Reached home 12.30am, Tufeil asleep....

Where the Smurf Are We?

2011-09-16T13:33:00.000+08:00

Wed 14th September 2011,

Ash has been dying to watch Smurf. She asked my parents, Tufeil and me along. I'm not so into Smurfs the cartoon but just followed along. A bit nervous about Tufeil because:

This is not 100% cartoon,
he's not familiar with Smurfs and
We are watching the 7.15pm show (read: he won't be sleepy and might get agitated having to sit for 2 hours)
We are cheapo, we took 2 couple seats for the 4 adults and Tufeil sat in between Ash and me.

The Irish Smurf is soooooooooooooo funny!! I like Clumsy at the ending....

I don't agree why Papa Smurf had to "sacrifice" himself to Gargamel. He knows he would be captured and Gargamel would gain POWER by extracting his essence and could therefore stop and hurt his family and the whole human race so why not just run???

Anyways, Tufeil was good for the first half hour or so... He sat still eating fries and burger... And then occasionally he would stand up against the front seat. There was a chaotic moment where the mineral water slipped under the chair and I had to retrieve it...

After that, he walked over to my dad's seat, and then dragged him to the front and then he ran around the whole theatre, in semi-darkness. *shake head* At least, he didn't cry. But he did talk quite loudly, "Mummy, itu org jahat?" (That's the bad guy?) "Mummy, Cat ketawa" (Cat's laughing). Fortunately, we sat at the last row and near the aisle so won't really disturb other people much.

Dinner @ Banquet and we were home by 9.45pm. Nice...

This is Crazy! Don't Be Stupid! Love is Blind

2011-09-16T13:14:00.000+08:00

Tues 13th September 2011,

After a vote amongst the committee, it was decided that our free movie for the year is to watch Crazy, Stupid, Love. Although budgetted for 80 pax, only 74 signed up. Even then, 2 actually was on medical leave that day and still nobody wanted to replace the slots. So, my sister came, even tho she's already watched it already! But otherwise, it'd be such a waste!

Oh it's actually at Cathay Cineleisure with free Popcorn and a can of coke. *bliss*

The movie itself... i think should have been categorised as Romantic Comedy instead of just Comedy because it was not LAUGH OUT LOUD funny but more in a... well.. romantic way! haha The plot is good, but i think Steve Carrell or his character should be FATTER to make a more dramatic change.

The actor playing his son looks familiar... From what movie is he eh?... Hmmm hafta google.

Good thing Ash came along, so we could share the cab ride home....

11 Sekawan BerHari-Raya

2011-09-15T14:27:00.000+08:00

Sat 10th September 2011,

Title means "11 Friends Celebrating Eid"

Usually we will go out on a group on 3rd or 4th week of the month of Syawal. But this year is special because our dear friend Hanani will be going overseas for a year next week so we meet earlier. Only 9 of us could make it though + 10 kids.

First Stop: Y's Open House.

My parents dropped me off at 12.15pm thereabouts. I arrived just a little bit before Nan and Husainy. My hand was full with Tufeil = no pictures. Because it was about to rain, and the guests were getting more and more, Me, Nan and Zi decided to wait for the others at...

2nd Stop: Nan's place ...

...a short distance away. Her house now has got two main doors! A new one was constructed to give access to the new lift on each level.

I got to watch most of Magika while Tufeil entertained himself with Husainy's numerous toys. Nice! Don't know why couldn't bring myself to snap photos....

It was 3pm by the time we moved off to ...

3rd Stop: 'Azma's place.

I took Fit's car and Tufeil promptly fell asleep. I was quite surprised because the car ride was prolly only 10minutes. Shows that he was extremely beat. So I was basically incapacitated the whole hour we were there = no pictures too. She served us with some noodles, my friend Hid had to feed me a few bites. I don't dare to put Tufeil down on a bed anywhere, he'll sure to wake!

4th Stop: 'Ainul's place.

Tufeil woke up just as we got down the car. Good timing. And he played and played at the toy's section...

This boy conquered this car

Aufa (Fit's) is too cute!!!

It was 6.30pm when we moved off to...

5th Stop: MY HOME!

I was a bit nervous at letting my friends in because I didn't expect them to want to drop by, reason being they just did not a month ago for Iftar and we might not have time to cover all houses. As it happened, quite a few people were not at home so and I have Chocolate Cornflakes Macaroon, so... yeah..

Because I hadn't yet prayed 'Asr, it was sooo frantic = no pictures! Luckily, my parents came back from their own visiting a few blocks away and helped to serve/entertain my friends.

Before long, we set out towards...

6th Stop: Hidayah's Haven.

We were treated with Kway Teow Goreng was it? and some nuggets. and.... a CAT!!! All the kids were mad about the Cat but unfortunately it was afraid of stranger and hid under sofa and behind bed.

We also attempted to take picture of ALL 10 kids!

From left: 1.latest addition to the gang is 'Abdullah, 2.in white is Shauqy,3.in red is Aufa, 4. Purple 'Affaan, 5. behind him is Iman, 6. The one and only girl Iffah, 7. Naufal, 8. Husainy, 9. Tufeil. 10. Unfortunately not within my camera view is Zhafir

It was quite a riot trying to round them up! The bigger they get the more difficult cos one or the other kept running away!

Final Stop: Fit's.

I was in Fit's car and her husband drives like McQueen, the car sounds like McQueen too and Tufeil liked it so much. In any case, we reached first and I quickly gave Tufeil a shower and change in case he fell asleep on the way home and he'd get cranky if he gets woken up and then that means no sleep or less sleep for me.

We all LOVEEEEEEEE Aufa's room. Very cosy! Complete with mini round table and chair IN the room! And love how there are magnetic alphabets and numbers on the metal store room door, animal flash cards on the wall etc.

Just us chit chatting around the table

Oh we had fried macaroni which is heavenly me and T had a few helpings!! And then we were too full to sample Yummy looking the choc cake! Nak recipe!!

It was prolly 11pm by the time we drew conclusion to the outing.

Thank you 'Ainul (and Hisyam) for driving me and Tufeil home. May Allah bless you.

Celebrating with EspritDC

2011-09-14T13:47:00.000+08:00

Wed, 7th September 2011

It was a work day but i took half day in the afternoon to join my sisters' group of friends for yet more visiting. Luckily I didn't take a full day's off, it would have been a waste. I finished at 12.30pm and reached the first house, Kak Aiman's in Tampines, 45min later, being 15minutes late and still just the 2nd guest to arrive!

I took the chance to eat first before my son came with his aunties. Very nice fried Kway Teow.

The Adults chatting around the dinner table

Kids eating on the floor

Running around, taking turns being carried by me cause they wanted to see the elephant photo.

Playing "masak2" (Cooking) on the floor

It was only at 3pm did we finally move off to the 2nd house, Kak Aesha, still in Tampines.

Kak Masturah's brood.

Nice swing!!

Asking for strawberries

Embarassing incident: Tufeil picked out just the strawberries from the top of a custard tart and ate them. He took a second set, and about to take another before i had to stop him! He cried and cried he really wanted more strawberries. Luckily, the host got more in the kitchen and gave him just the cut strawberries. And still asked for another helping! *paisei* (Nasib baik cute, jadi org pun tak kisah nak kasi makanan hahaha)

Here, the kids were really starting to warm up. They ran around ...

...And hid under tables from Aamaniy, Kak Aiman's daughter

When we left, we found out that we all got fined $10 or $20 for overstaying longer than our 30min parking coupon.

Then we reached Kak Zakiah's new place in Pasir Ris.

Love her daughter, Sophia's room!

By now, they were all playing independently together. I left Tufeil totally, while the adults heard a breaking news in the sitting area.

He saw a bigger McQueen from the one he has and brought.

Not all quiet though. I had to reprimand Tufeil several times to let other people play with McQueen, something or other.

Sayang Bear

I was on baby duty while...

The friends were eating

It was some sort of Kacang Phool (Kidney Bean Chili) with yummy garlic bread.

At 6.30pm, we moved off to Punggol, Kak Masturah's place. After doing our prayers, we had Tomato Noodles for dinner! (Reminiscent of our school days when the canteen served us this) Yummy!!!!

And then it was karaoke time!

Needless to say, the kids fought over the mic

A short clip of the chaos while trying to sing

There were other mics but there were not working. Tufeil was not to be fooled!

We promised to come back later for serious singing time, minus the kids!!

At this point, Kak Rahmah also joined us. Finally finally met her children in flesh and blood. Only ever read from her blog and twitter. =)

It was prolly 9pm when we finally made our way to my sister's house. I helped to play host since she's alone. By this time, I was sooo tired I didn't care much for pictures. The only one i got is of Tufeil...

Playing with Barbie again!!

Hmmm Maybe I should start buying him some action figures. He's starting to say things like "Tufeil suka princess" (I like princess). I'm sure it's normal and it nurtures creativity or caring thoughts when you play with dolls... but...

It was 11.30pm by the time we walked the few steps home!!

To be honest, it was kinda awkward hanging out with them at first because they are technically not my friends / age group being 5 years senior in school. So, I totally understand why Abg Fai (my bro in law) left after the 2nd house, being the only man and all! But after awhile, it was such a hoot.

The thing I like about going out with them is, they made a point of taking a group picture at each and every house. Well... that's not a terribly mean feat considering that 6 out of 8 kids are 4yrs and above! But alas, i think i look horrible in all of them! hahahaha

All in all, my half day afternoon leave was totally worth it. To think that i almost gave it a miss!

Raya Visiting on East Side

2011-09-13T13:36:00.000+08:00

Sunday, 4th Sept 11

It wasn't till 12.30pm that we went out. Even then, only to my sister's house which is two blocks away. In a way, it's good that we are not under pressure to wake up early and get ready quickly... but the downside is, we don't really have a lot of time to visit..

Are we sisters or are we Mum & Daughter?

We are cousins

We are a family

First official Stop: Cousin Nur's new place in Pasir Ris. Best!

Playing on big sofa

We are purple

oohing and aahing at their travel knick knacks

Umar!

"Ini Abang Tufeil lah..."
"This is Bro Tufeil"

Sayang Kakak

2nd House: Nek Milah which is just a few blocks away.

Two kids sitting quietly.... NOT

NOw they are playing with Umar's shawl and wrap my dad!

3rd Stop: Extremely late lunch at Ocean Seafood Restaurant @ Downtown East

OOps the Black Pepper Beef rice was too hot for Tufeil, he only ate the rice with some prawn from others

4th Stop: Simei!!!

Maghrib Prayer

Piggy back!

Tufeil was so amused by Uncle Ayid the Army guy. He kept asking me to see Spongebob. So i told him to ask from Uncle Ayid to whom it belongs to. Then when he brought it out, Tufeil cried didn't wanna look at it. I think because his nose protrudes out. hhahaa. Nak, tapi takut.

Last house for the day is my cousin Taufiq and family in Tampines. Relatively new house. It was my first time there. *JAW DROP!* Very nice!! No pictures because i was busy fending Tufeil off the sweets and then showering him. Also because, i feel a bit paisey (embarassed) to take pictures lah. Like country bumpkin or something :P

First weekend of Shawal

2011-09-13T10:58:00.000+08:00

Sat, 3rd September 11

The plan was to visit my maternal aunt in JB (that's Johor Bahru in Malaysia which is a short drive away) who is recovering from a road accident. It took an hour to clear Malaysian custom but we eventually reached her place at 2pm.

Tufeil's get up today

This outfit is from last year's and he could still fit! Luckily, my mum did not cut away the hem when we altered the length shorter.

What are the boys looking at?

3 rabbits in a two storey house!

The girls

We were treated to Asam Pedas Fish & chicken. It's been a long time since I ate white rice.

Next, we went to my bro in law's relative about 20min drive away. The moment I stepped into her house, felt like i was transported into a Malaysian TV Drama.

The Front yard, if you may

Living Room

My one and only photo throughout the day

There's a little step to the dining area...

We were served Mee Siam and Cocktail Jelly for Dessert

Vanity mirror the the stairs.
This pic of me doesn't count cos its so tiny

Syifaa' & Tufeil straight away played by the stairs despite our constant warnings

Stairs can be a dangerous place to play (I don't mind that as much as my dad does). Not only that, the thing I'm more concerned about is you're not supposed to roam around people's houses without their prior invitation! How am i supposed to instill that in my child?

My mum said the 3 of us girls when we were small, we were sooo quiet and sat still on the sofa just talked among ourselves. We were shy to play with other kids, let alone go into people's rooms! Now how come the 3rd generation didn't follow suit??

Anyway, the house layout is so nice made us, or rather my parents. dream of having a semi-detached house too.... but we are wayyy awayyy from that dream. Besides, there was a scary incident a few days ago. Her neighbour's relatives came to visit from Singapore in a few cars. Suddenly, in the middle of the "chaos", 3 armed men entered the house via the widely open gate and asked all of the relatives to take out their cash and strip their jewelleries! Ever since then, one of the other neighbours hire a security guard!

Next house, we went to my uncle's place @ Yew Tee. This is the best house to be because there are lots of children to entertain Tufeil! I totally ate in peace. The only problem is, it also means that it's diff to get T to sit down and eat his dinner! He ran around from room to room in between mouthfuls.

Out of all the toys, he played with Barbie

But this barbie is a superhero. She can fly!

I felt a bit unsatisfied though ... I wanna visit more houses! (Houses, not people hehe)

Tufeil turned 2yrs and 5 months

2011-09-12T10:07:00.000+08:00

Recently, Tufeil's learnt to make the hand peace sign... or number 2 sign.

Tufeil disturbing his nenek's rice to make ketupat.

Also, somehow, suddenly he got better at taking medicine. We used to struggle and physically chain his limbs, press his nose so he would swallow them. I think now with his Atok's encouragement (Excellent!!) and Nenek's creativity of calling the meds by fruit - proximity by colour, he readily opened his mouth and took the meds 1ml by 1ml.

What are you wearing, Tufeil?

Don't get me wrong, he still cries. Need to coax him, pep-talk him then he'll open when he's ready. To be honest, even way before this he did exclaim "Tufeil tak nak baring!" (Don't lay me down) or "Jgn pegang mulut!" (Don't touch my mouth/face) but we couldn't do anything else since he refused to open up.

A Sarban that Atok helped to put on

Speaking of medicines, I got a bit worried that after a week of medicine, the symtomps (spellcheck!) still prevail. He had persistent cough esp in mid of the night. His runny nose is like a permanent resident making him look forever unkempt with dried cooties on his cheeks! Melayu cakap "dah berkerak!" LOL

Smaller one

So the GP suggested to start him on a Lung Tonic. Basically this is antihistamine. to be taken twice a day 5ml each time religiously for a month to see if it's effective on him. Success rate 6/10. If it is, then we hafta continue with the medicine till whenever. If it doesn't, we hafta escalate to Level 2 or see a Paed. We hafta do this before he becomes officially asthmatic.

Gasp!

Bad news is this might increase his appetite! "Oh no!" I said, "I don't want him to get fat because of this!" As it is, he's a good eater already.

But we were told to avoid FRUITS altogether except room temperature RED APPLE. Even bananas can cause phlegm. =( HOW!? Doesn't Tufeil need the vitamins from fruits? He doesn't eat veges (like his mum), fruits is his saving grace amongst all the fried stuffs, fast food and junks. I better get those Halal Gummy Bears Vit C ASAP!

Action merajuk

Alamak seluar pendek pulak.

He can also climb in and down the car easily without me having to give a hand.

So yah. That's the round up for the month.

What We Did on 2nd Day of Eid

2011-09-06T13:45:00.000+08:00

Wed, 31st Aug 2011

After lunch treat courtesy of 1st sis @ Swensen's, Me, Tufeil, Ash, Mum & Syifaa' decided to get Mum 'n' Tots promo at Cathay to watch Cars 2! If you guys don't know already, on most night, Tufeil watches Cars the movie to sleep. He also likes to watch Mater's Tall tales on youtube. He has quite a handful of Cars paraphernalia.

Mater is bigger than Tufeil

McQueen got camouflaged

There were real tyres!!

Jump Jump

It's been a year since I first brought Tufeil to the movies and that didn't turn out good. I left after just 30 or 40min. So it's only natural that I'm a bit nervous at the prospect of going to the cinema with him again. Granted, he absolutely LOVES Cars but... anything can happen.

The 2.30pm show on a work day was not crowded. Nice! Tufeil got a booster seat. It's gonna be his naptime soon and I was afraid he'd get cranky and couldn't sleep for the loud noise. But he remain transfixed to the screen for the first 45min or so and then suddenly he came to me and said he was sleepy and prompty fell asleep on my shoulder. SWEET! I did mean that he missed half of the show but I guess I can always download or buy the dvd someday for him to watch.

It was a good day.

Final Day of Ramadhan 2011

2011-09-02T09:28:00.000+08:00

Monday, 29th Aug 2011

Most of the "springcleaning" were done the day before, including last minute shopping at Metro for new bedsheets. I'm so grateful this year's preparation wasn't as frantic as some of the past years. I think it's because of 2 things: Tufeil going to school, giving my mum ample time to finish making ketupat (rice cake) and because Eid falls on a Tuesday, I was at home for 3 days from saturday to clean, help with the ketupat and whatever. Also kudos to my sister, Ash, she's the festive cleaner sort. Meaning to say, she mostly only cleans during Hari Raya but when she does she does it extremely well.

My room from the door

My first ever black bedsheet

The Sitting Area

Living and Dining sections from the Sitting Area

We also had a guest for our last iftar (break fast) in Ramadhan.

Sarina

They had quite a bit of fun playing together.

I ALMOST ALMOST ALMOST went to Geylang that night. For my overseas reader, Geylang is like a Malay Village where we get our festive stuffs. And venturing to Geylang on eve of Eid borders on to dangerous due to the crowd! But there's always good sale to be had as shopkeepers would like to clear their stocks.

Anyways, I really really wanted to get my henna done as I always do... Ash was already out. My mum wanted to drop me there on the way to her errands. But it was already 9.30pm, I don't think its fair to leave Tufeil with them and I really didn't wanna linger there for too long so I forwent (past tense of forgo?) my annual "ritual" and spent about 2 hrs in the car following my parents to pick up cookies and send ketupats, etc...

Hari Raya 2011

2011-09-01T14:19:00.000+08:00

Tuesday 30th Auguest 2011

Hmmm We (I mean Tufeil and I) missed Eid prayer this year. The last time I went was prolly when I was still pregnant.

It's so nice that in recent year, we didn't get nagged so much to get ready and houses to visit in the first day dropped to just 4 or 5. Although I missed going to lotsa places, it's a relief we get to reach home as early as 9.30pm.

Our outfit this year is grey. We bough Tufeil's as early as June. And I tailor made mine at ModKebaya in April! But was very disappointed when I saw the end result. I wasn't brave enough to pull off a grey top with RED batik skirt! Besides, it was tight and the material stiff. Hate it. On top of the money i spent on the outfit, Mum got the top Blinged for SGD 20 at JB and I bought another wrap around black/silver skirt from Fara's shop to match. This year will also mark the beginning of my (proper) shawl era, i think. LOL

First Stop: Nenek Jah's (my Bro-in-Law's parents place)

No one was around, so we managed to eat a proper brunch.

Tufeil felt right at home and asked for a toy from the Play Room!

Syifaa' & Titi (Short for Aunty Siti)

The Ladies

The Goodies

2nd Stop: Pak Long (My dad's first brother)

A bunch of kids playing and arguing and crying

Tufeil playing with 6mth old Aariz (my cousin's 3rd son)

3rd stop: Yot Husainy (my mom's dad)

Finally got a snap of his full get up.

Yes, he liked to pull his songkok (headgear) down low his brows

Surrounding

on the 2nd floor of the penthouse

Tufeil calling for Aunty Nol, Uncle Ben, etc

The theme of the decor seems to be Mediterranean as my uncle just came back from a 3yr Dubai job. The kids thoroughly enjoyed playing in one of the open air rooms on the 2nd floor.

Syifaa' with cooking set

Tufeil refuelling the car

4th Stop: Nek Long (Mum's first maternal Aunt)

We reached here about 5pm and Tufeil still hadn't had his nap!! He was either too excited to play with toys or the journey in the car too short to settle down. But an hour later (still at the same place), he finally surrendered. Even then, he had to watch youtube while hugging me before he could finally snooze.

Speaking of which, i really hate it when he got hold of my phone. He would totally be captivated by it and didn't really care about people around him. Not to mention that it made it diff for me to take pictures! The only positive is that he won't really care what goes into his mouth either, making mealtime somewhat "easier".

Peace - his new favourite sign

5th Stop: Yot Mon (My maternal grandma)
Funny question of the day: How many teeth does he have now? And: Errrr All? He's 2 years already.

Watching Boy the Hamster

Mother & Son.

Finally managed to get a "decent" photo of us together. But i'm still not satisfied! Lucky for us, there will be more visiting this coming weekends... hopefully then we can get better pictures.

11 Sekawan Ber-Iftar

2011-08-26T14:40:00.000+08:00

Saturday, 20th Aug 2011

I played host for my 11 Besties to have our Iftar (breaking of fast) at my house. Good thing too cause I'll be one of the few who would be making the mains of this potluck session, none other than my... BEEF MEATLOAF & Mashed potatoes!!!

In preparation of their arrival (9 besties + 4 of their husbands + 8 children under 3yrs), I vacuumed and mopped and arranged all Tufeil's toys in categories. Wanted to try like what Happygrub did. I guess either it doesn't work for such big crowd or i didn't organise properly. LOL

Guests started trickling in at 6.30pm with 45min to go to dusk.

Husainy, being one of the early birds, gotta ride on the trike

As well as the "laptop"

"Tufeil tak nak yang ini!!!"
"I don't want this one!!"

Chatting before the call of azan

Mummy Y trying to gobble a ball!!

Preparing the mat to safeguard the carpet.

Just about 3/4 of the final spread!

From below: KFC's egg tarts, Fried Pasta, Fried chicken wings (complete with lettuce!), on its right my meatloaf, above that my mashed potatoes, some otak2 (Fish paste bbq?), Dengdeng (sliced beef BBQ), fruits and assorted cookies.

Not pictured: Mee Rebus, Pengat (Pisang?), and Grass Jelly w Longan dessert.

Alhamdulillah, the guests enjoyed my Meatloaf =)

I managed to sit down and eat for a bit!

Syifaa' was being very sisterly to Husainy as well as others.

Syifaa' was the excited one when she saw Husainy's picture on Okto's birthday dedication on TV! And she was especially nice to all the kids that night, showing them how to play with some toys and asking after them. I think next time we have a gathering, I would prolly bring Syifaa' along too!

The only girl in our 10 kids brood!

The husbands were watching a very important soccer match - was it Liverpool VS Arsenal?

"Mr Hisyam, please tell the non-Arsenal fans what you intend to do with this glove."

"We KAPOW them!" LOL

Mass Prayer time!

My parents have already gone out for an evening class, so the head of prayer is Zarn! Tufeil was clingy that night, refused to play alone or with his friends so I had to carry him most of the way.

And then, we proceeded with our Agenda for the night: iron some glitter on Nan's top and a tutorial on headscarf fashion (lilit tudung).

In between, the kids entertained themselves: jumping on the bed, running around, etc.

Me, I tried to feed Tufeil his dinner properly. And the other boys joined in too. Apparently, they ALL loved the SAUCE part of the meatloaf and didn't care so much for the mashed potatoes. haha. Afterwards, they continued jumping and jumping until Tufeil vomitted! Poor dear. He was coughing quite a bit.

Loitering along the corridor while the ladies were all in my room doing the tutorial

All of the girls and some of the kids in my room!

In an effort to wean Tufeil off breastmilk, one of my friends tried to tell him that she has added some medicine (the thing he hates the most!) in my milk. Coincidentally, Tufeil was extremely sleepy at 9.30pm before the guests were gone, so I was not able to lay with him on the bed. So i just carried him till he fell asleep on his own. 2 hours later when he cam awake, he didn't ask for the milk! I carried him around too. but by the 2nd time he woke up, i thought, "It's ok, i'll give in this time. He's not feeling very well."

Anyway, while I was carrying Tufeil, I was totally incapacitated. All the girls helped to pack the leftovers for all of us to bring home. They even helped to take out the trash! What gems they are!

It was very nice having you guys over. But next time, I wanna go out. :P

Holiday in the making...

2011-08-17T10:38:00.000+08:00

It is truly unfortunately that I have to arrive to the decision of scrapping the 12D trip to Turkey at year end. The trip for one adult costs more than my monthly salary! Now that Tufeil is more than 2 years of age, his plane ticket alone is $1,800 excluding the land tour fee.

That means I'll be missing these...

Topkapi Palace

Blue Mosque

Grand Bazaar

Sighhh... well better that than plunging deeper into debts.

Instead, now I'm planning to go for Qodariyah's 5D to Shanghai. I think it's winter there too in december, right? Even if no snow, temp lower than say 10 deg c would be good. hahah And it costs only $858 per person! (Budget airline???)

Afterwards we can still go for a beach resort...

I wanna stay in a villa with private pool

Get in house massage...

and snorkel!!!

Tufeil would be delighted to see the fishes up close and personal! Wait, would he be able to snorkel?

I just can't decide which beach. PLUS most of the nearby islands would be affected by the monsoon season or something in December, isn't it? So WHERE would be a good place???

Seletar Reservoir

2011-08-16T09:00:00.000+08:00

Sunday, 14th August 2011.

After making 2 more packets of Kuih Layang2, I made two batches of Butter cookies for my sister. And by two batches, I mean like... two separate batches bcos I wasn't sure if two would be too much.

It was past 2.30pm when we finally got ready for a ... Drive To Nowhere. Well technically we went all the way to Tampines for a few errands... but effectively, me and Tufeil just slept in the car. *bliss*

T woke up just in time for a walk by the park at Seleter Reservoir. It was soooooo windy... with quite a handful of Banglas/Indians sitting there too.

The grass/weeds were long too. I was pleasantly surprised that Tufeil didn't notice them much even though he was wearing a sandal.

We saw 3 dead fishes washed ashore... and there was even one that was DYING. My dad said "Inilah dia nyawa nyawa ikan" (Malay proverb)

And then we went to the River side of the water.

It was low tide. There were a couple of people with GIANT cameras that you see a football matches. My dad thought they were waiting to shoot crabs or something.

Mum suggested to come here one day for a picnic and perhaps do our prayer under the sky. That'd be nice.

Kuih Layang-Layang

2011-08-15T12:26:00.002+08:00

We spent the whole weekend making a total of 7 packets worth of Kuih Layang-Layang (Literally: Kite cookie) well minus a few sheets ended up torn and in our mouths. I totally regretted letting Tufeil and Syifaa' taste the raw sheets cause then the entire time we were rolling them, they bugged me for some pieces. *padan muka aku!* (Serve me right!)

Anyway, I thought I'd document how it is done, for memory's sake. We think it's been at least 2 years (Tufeil's arrival) since the last time we made this.

First, a short video on how to roll the sheet.

Sorry I instinctively spoke in Malay with my Mum.

It is imperative that you NOT choose the BLUE packet from this brand because they tear easily (a lot ended in our mouths!) The green one was good. There are orange one too but I'm not sure what it is. BTW, i think its a local brand.

I'm not an expert at rolling the sheet. My job would be to help peel the sheets and fold into almost half so my mum could just roll and stick the ends with glue (I mean, flour and water mixture, haha).

And then I would be the one cutting them slanted.

It is important to keep it from getting dry from exposure. So we used damp cloth to cover the not yet rolled sheets.

Now, it's time to fry them
I like them kinda deep brown as opposed to pale.

My mum said "toast" but I think the right word is to STRAIN it once

And then another time to make sure excess oil is gone

And then stir in caster sugar as desired

Cool and store!

We found that frying immediately after preparing them would result in crispier texture as opposed to a bit hard when we waited overnight (due to time constraint) but they all taste the same.

Oh and between my mum and me, we could finish rolling a packet of 40pcs in 30minutes. Frying them is the tough bit.

Try it if you haven't already!!

National Day 2011 & Discplining Tufeil

2011-08-12T12:37:00.002+08:00

Tuesday, 9th Aug 2011

What a relief to finally have a Public Holiday after a dry season in Jun and July! HAHA Badly needed sleep. Me and T slept till 11am after our pre-dawn meals for the fasting day ahead.

I made a double batch of Sarang Semut (Literally: Ant's Nest), a cookie made of castard flour and Chocolate Rice. Somehow, my second time of making this turned awry. (Read my first attempt here - includes recipe.)

It was very very dry!!

The last time I made it, it was extremely soft!! This time around, I bought the normal Bird Eye's Custard Powder. I dont have the weighing scale at home and I think somehow my conversion from gm to cup is wrong.

200 g castard flour = 1 2/3 cup?
100 g plain flour = 3/4 cup?

Before baking

See.. I hardly needed to grate them, it crumbled on its own! haha. I baked 3 full trays before calling it quits. I saved the dough. Am thinking of adding more butter but not sure how (Like should i melt it first or something?) and how much. Thankfully, my sisters said it still tastes nice, it just doesnt stay together.

Because Tufeil had woken up late this morning, I had a thought of not letting him nap so that he could sleep early that night, so I took him out to the playground. We went from one to the next to the next until we ended up at a a Woodhaven condo showroom across the next street (quite far) because T saw this intriguing snake balloon.

*SQUEALS!!!*

We reached home close to 6.30pm. He scraped his knee just a few metres from home on the way back. and became very cranky... he was sleepy I know. So I let him watch the National Day Parade which was just starting.

Finally, he saw real soldiers marching

I don't know why everytime I see a contingent of soldiers in the parade, my heart will swell and my throat choke with pride. LOL

LIfe-sized Food Costumes

Even till today, Tufeil still asks me, "Mana soldier nye?" (Where are the soldiers) "Oh dia dah marching eh?" (They've marched away?)
We were so engrossed by the show that we missed iftar by a few seconds. Astaghfirullah!!!

These canons looked impressive on this vessel

But somehow it kinda disappointed me. The sound was very faint!!! *Yawwwwnnn*

By 8pm, Tufeil was already asleep! But at 10pm he woke up and was FRESH!!! He wanted to play and play. At 1am, I decided enough was enough. He had to sleep, or else! So i took away the iphone and commanded him to lie down and sleep. He cried hard. So I left him in the room in semi-darkness and closed the door. And waited about 5 seconds before entering again.

He still asked for his hippo (and dog) on youtube and I said NO, YOU MUST SLEEP! IT'S LATE! When he started crying again, i left him in the room again. After yet another 5 seconds, I came into the room again. I gave him an ultimatum, he could stay in the room alone or nurse to sleep. He cried for a few more seconds while I lied down shutting my eye... and then suddenly he snuggled up beside me and promptly fell asleep. It was 2am. But only after 3am did I finally sleep myself, on the floor, due to a hardcore blocked nose. (Am still having one as I type now 3 days later!)

I can tell you that this is quite a bold move from me. I'm learning to be a FIRM mother by reprimanding Tufeil when need be. I used to just ignore his wails and tantrums, tuning it all out. But I realised that this won't help Tufeil in distinguishing what's good and what's bad as he is in the phase of testing boundaries.

So I consulted with my 11 Besties (on whatsapp as we've been for the past 3 months or so) and we exchanged ideas on parenting and disciplining children. I feel much better now and in control of the situation, sort of, instead of being bullied by my own 2 yr old!

Wish me luck in discplining Tufeil!

Break Fast w Yot

2011-08-08T11:36:00.000+08:00

Sunday, 7th Aug 2011.

As tradition dictates, the first weekend of Ramadhan, we will break our fasts with my maternal grandfather, Tufeil's great grandfather (Yot). This year, it happens to be at the new penthouse. Whoop!

It is on this rare occassion that all the kids get to gather (even during Eid, our timing always clash) and they are at an age where they can all entertain themselves. The only worry I had was if Tufeil looked for me and climbed down the spiral stairs on his own.

Other than that, it was very peaceful (read: managed to eat without much disruptions) even entertaining. Tufeil sat down quietly beside me having his macaroni a piece at a time.

Tufeil entertaining the girls with his "forced" laughter

Uncle Ben giving T a ride on the rocket

He conquered this. Luckily the others were too big and Syifaa' had plenty of other toys to play with

The 2nd floor living area

T cried when it was time to leave cos he just discovered the keyboard and mic!

Again, Tufeil was entertaining the adults by repeating everything he heard and then turning it into gibberish.

We made our way home at about 10pm.

Tufeil, 2yrs 4 months on...

2011-08-08T11:13:00.000+08:00

Tufeil is such an extrovert. I don't know where he got it from cos I certainly was an extremely shy girl. Prolly still is.

This month he's shown me how he can make friends anywhere young and old.

A makeshift swing from an adult's "gym"

He's good at drawing circles...

"Oooooo"

He recognises numbers (thanks to school) 1, 2 & 4 being his favourites.

At a carpet shop in JB w Syifaa'

At last, he can listen to a specific command "Smile at the camera".

Sitting in his laundry basket

He's discovered that he can rest his head in the bathtub.

That's not poo but Chuggington's Puffer Ol Pete

Other than these, I DIG that he can finally climb on my back while I give him a horse ride.

And there's a National Day celebration as school today and he's dressed like this:

Nan will find this shirt familiar

This bag is good for his size

The bus attendant exclaimed, "Wah macam Fandi Ahmad sey" LOL

Now we can't wait to see how Umar will turn out.

First Ramadhan

2011-08-02T12:38:00.000+08:00

I'd like to tell you that my first two Ramadhan nights have been fruitful. But that would be lying.

Tufeil slept early the previous night and then woke up with us for sahur at 5am. After Fajr, I fed him some yogurt. I noticed there were some lumps in it, so I took a lick to determine that it is still edible... It took 2 whole minutes for me to remember that I was fasting and shouldn't be eating! LOL.

I took leave for the rest of the day because my dear boy was having fever and needed my comforting. He slept from 8 - 12noon on and off while I played MY FARM LIFE for 2 hours and slept for the remainder.

Somebody's screenshot of the game

When we woke up, I tried to feed Tufeil but he had no appetite. He asked to watch some cows and we happily played game again. I finally managed to get him to eat Mashed potatoes with sausage after which, he wanted to sleep again! Woohoo more time for me....

I urged him to eat some more when he woke up an hour later. I made his favourite nutella sandwich. It certainly tested my faith bcos it happens to be my favourite too. LOL. While he ate, I let him watch TV and I dozed off on and off ... until 6pm, when i told myself, "Enough is enough!", pulled myself together and cleaned up and prepared for break fast.

What a total waste of the day when I could have been reaping rewards doing good deeds. I know. I'm ashamed of myself. I pity my soul self.

(That's not to say I did not sleep smiling that night)

I'm FREE

2011-07-27T10:00:00.004+08:00

At last, I'm officially Divorced.

We separated ways on 12th May 2009 when Tufeil was 6 weeks old. There were attempts to reconcile but it fell through. I recall a few people dropping comments on my blog asking how come I didn't write about Z anymore. I didnt really answer directly to the point because at that juncture, it was also not clear to me whether the marriage would last or otherwise.

It took about 6 months to go through the registration process and counselling and to reach the Filing of Summons stage. And then I ignored that and the case was automatically closed. I reopened it abt a year ago. Had to go through all those again. and after filing of summons was the mediation. Alhamdulillah, we were able to get to an agreement on maintenance for the child and mine as well as custody in one session.

Filing of Summons was about $35 for both parties. Mediation $135 for plaintiff, in this case, me and $35 for defendant.

I won't dwell on my reasons for this divorce. Suffice to say that he uttered the Talak (divorce) and there were a huge communication breakdown and trust issues and that his only reason was because of my family.

It is ok if you think I deserve it. It is ok if you think it's my own doing for being so naive and got married after 6 months of knowing a guy online. I'd like to think that I've come out of this more matured. I've become a responsible mother/person (albeit still a lazy and uninspired one but hey, I've started cooking and cleaning, that's HUGE!).

The most annoying part about being separated/divorced is people assuming you're happily married. I have had complete strangers asking me "When are you having a second one?" and a cab driver "Wah you go out alone with your baby ah? Your husband never follow you ah? Wah so good are you. you let him sleep at home." Most of the time I don't care to explain that I'm separated/divorced because it will inevitably lead to insensitive questions like, "Oh what happened?" And then... "Oh im sorry..." God! It's like a broken record.
I don't miss him at all. In fact, believe you me I'm very much happier from the moment he left. All the worries and heartaches just poofed into thin air the moment I decided I no longer care. However, I do miss being loved and taken care of. God knows it has been more than just those 2 years of separation. I am not entirely certain the right guy is out there for me. But, a girl can dream.

Most importantly is I have sole responsibilities of bringing up Tufeil to be a good muslim. It won't be easy but Alhamdulillah for the good support system I have. I may complain a lot but without my family and friends, I'd've prolly turned crazy by now.

Nowadays, I live one day at a time. One paycheck to the next.

Jackie Chicken

2011-07-26T11:42:00.000+08:00

This recipe is courtesy of Bridget from Twinisms.com Original Recipe post here.

I bought the cream cheese like... a month ago but had been procastinating cooking it because I was lazy to convert the measurement to something I know. I thought it might be difficult or Tufeil might not like it because it's using chicken breast (I prefer Boneless Skinless Chicken Legs). Turned out its the total opposite!!! It's soooo nice and easy to make!!

Ingredients

1 8 Oz. Package Cream Cheese, softened
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
4 Chicken Breasts, cooked and cut into cubes
1 Sleeve Ritz Crackers, crushed
4 Tbs. Butter, melted
Pepper

Combine the cream cheese and soup until mostly smooth.
Add in the cubed bird hooters.
Combine the first 3 ingredients. Place them in a lightly greased baking dish.
Combine the melted butter and crushed crackers in a bowl and pour on top on this chicken.
Just throw it in a 350 degree oven for about a half hour and you’re done!

I had about 300gm of chicken fillets... so decided to halve everything else as well. Hentam bocai! (Anyhow)

Firstly, I cooked the chicken. Do you know that I had to email the author on how she cooked the chicken! LOL! I'm such a novice! I decided to steam the chicken instead because that's the easiest way I know how. Before that I rubbed it with some worcestershire sauce and McCormick's All Seasoning... I don't think it made a diff though. and then instead of cubing, i shredded them.

Tufeil insisted on "helping" me

Just before entering the oven

He ate the rest of the soup using bare hands!!! Had to change pajamas!

I had a taste of this after Tufeil was asleep, and it was HEAVEN! The smell when it was baking was also delicious!!! The texture of the chicken make me think i was eating cheese! hahaha... I think I would serve it with my mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese. I just this could just be my next specialty other than the beef meatloaf!

2nd Time @ Fidgets

2011-07-26T11:08:00.000+08:00

Sunday, 24th July 2011

Bored again. After Tufeil's nap, we went out for lunch at LJS. He was a good boy that day as he didn't make a big fuss about having to sit down for long (30min). I decided to try that indoor playground at Turf City again. This would be our 2nd time the first one being before he was even 1yr old!! He took a cab there. Again Tufeil was quite ok during the wait in queue.

Don't know why Tufeil loves this section of the playground

Hmmm Quite persistent in getting what he wants

He's scared of the holes. Is this normal?

Don't you know it (Jgn tak tau...) I'm so thick I couldn't get past one of the barriers! *BLUSH* And then there was one time Tufeil accidentally went down the swirling slides on his own before i was prepared and he got kinda stunted! Then we went to an open one, we went together he was okay even though it was very steep. The next time he was so excited he went down on his own again and bumped his head backwards. After that, he was really scared to go down again. He went down the same way he got up while i rode the slide. What bad timing because tmrw he's going to AMAZE @ Jurong playground with the school!!

At the kiddy section, Tufeil showed some unfavourable behaviour of not wanting to share the toys =( I had to bribe him with ice cream to make him let it go. And then he started crying when the one cup had finished and i didn't let him have more because it was time to go home. I had to carry him for a bit.

Had to wait 20minutes for the free shuttle bus to come, so we went looking around in a kiddy shop.

Tufeil soothing a crying Jap-Caucasian girl

The bus dropped us at Toa Payoh int and we took the train from there. I had to carry him though. I think he was tired from walking the length of TURF CITY and more. And I had to tickle him a lot to keep him from sleeping! It was already 6pm by that time.

Thankfully, he was willing to walk again at the walkway from the mrt to our house. And then he suddenly made friends with these 3 big kids, running around on the field playing catch. It's so nice seeing him be so outgoing with other kids and how other kids are also willing to entertain him. The language was a bit difficult though. The big kids could only make out "No more kite" from what Tufeil had been chattering about in English & Malay mixture.

Sameer the Bhai "Kentot"

2011-07-25T12:25:00.000+08:00

Sat, 23rd July 2011.

So boring today my parents and 2nd sister's family went to Malacca for 1N. Luckily, Tufeil woke up only at 11am so that's like half a day gone. And Ash was not working that day so we went out for lunch at Breeks.

Afterwards, I managed to squeeze in a visit to Nisa and Sameer the Bhai just for fun. Also because there's a direct bus to her house, it's easy. The not so easy part was, Tufeil fell asleep just 5min before destination so I had to carry him... add to that, I alighted one bus stop earlier so I hafta walk further. (Arms still aching.)

Tufeil was amused by Sameer's Cars Bedsheet. Thank you Nisa for the lovely green banana custard which T loved.

Tufeil giggling at Sameer Bhai making fart sound. Actly he giggled loudest after I hit the Stop button. Always happens to me.

We left at 5pm but T still wanted to play and we stopped by at the playground nearby. T and I waited about 5 whole min at the bus stop and I was amazed that I could keep him still, most of the time.

Unfortunately, it was a single decker bus this time around. But the funny thing was, there were two kids seated behind us and T totally made friends with them. He taught them the phrase "Shiver me timbers" from that new Pirate cartoon on Disney Junior. and they in turn taught him "Yio Chu kang". It was so funny looking at them entertaining each other.

It was promptly maghrib when we reached the door to the house. As we went in, Tufeil was 5 steps behind me. The moment I stepped in my room, he screamed and cried! My heart beat quickly and I rushed out to see him and I don't know why but I also screamed! I snapped out of it and hugged Tufeil and looked around... Oh! There's a lizard on the wall! If you know me, you'd know that i'm terrified of lizards too! But I hafta be the adult at the moment and "rescue" Tufeil by running quickly into our room. We waited until the lizard ran away than we were able to get showered and dinner.

The whole night and until now, I pondered on his scream. It doesn't sound like he saw a lizard. Normally, he wldn't scream like that. He sounded really scared. I imagine he saw something else but that it ran away when I screamed at it? *shrug*

Ini gara2 Hairiah lah cerita kat Whatsapp pasal benda ghaib. Sampai skrg kita asyik teringat2 ajer... :P

Tufeil's First Racial Harmony Day

2011-07-21T11:23:00.000+08:00

20th July 2011,

One Tufeil's first week of sch, he had international Friendship Day where he donned his shalwar kameez.

Yesterday was Tufeil's first Racial Harmony in school and he wore an Arab (Moroccan? Nigerian?) jubah courtesy of his grandma from when they went for Umrah.

Ustaz Tufeil? teehee

This one is very comfortable with much room to run around in.

Need to wear pants inside

Alamak, posing sey

Too bad I decided not to buy that Syrian costume last year. It would be perfect for the occasion! Perhaps when we next travel, we should get one!

Carousel with Besties WITHOUT HANDBAGS!

2011-07-20T19:19:00.001+08:00

Sat, 16th July 2011.

By handbags, i meant children. LOL.

My besties had been looking forward to this day for close to 2 months since the idea conceptualized. Me, I cldn't see anything beyond my D&D just the night before.

Initially, it was supposed to be a baby-free weekend as my parents wanted to go to Malacca and bring Tufeil along since I would be out late. Unfortunately, after the first trial, my mum decided NO MORE because she had a backache after Tufeil slept on her chest 4hrs straight at night.

In any case, this is the first time in history that we are meeting sans the babies and husbands. For the occasion, we've got a private function room at Carousel for hi-tea. Highlights of the afternoon were:

1. A 3min updates around the table
2. A $10 mysterious exchange gift and to guess the giver.
3. A door gift consisting of 11 $1 items. Also to guess the givers.
4. Oh, and of course, FOOD! LOL!

As I was sooo busy organising D&D the whole month, I cldn't think of what gifts to buy until the day itself. I decided to go out early and hunt something at Orchard. Bad idea seeing that i hate Orchard very very much. I mean what decent $10 gift can you find at ION. Nothing apparently. I ended up at Borders and got a $9.95 fancy paper bag. I almost wanted to give up on the optional door gift until I was at the cashier and saw $1 Borders enviro-bag and grabbed 11 of them surely getting curious looks from fellow patrons behind me.

Anyways... PICTURES NOW!! It was sooo nice having a designated photographer (who is quite shy herself) so that my own face would be in a handful of shots. Thanks, Ti for your efforts!!1 Sorry we didn't take much photo of you.

The room. Gorgeous High Back-ed chairs. Felt Royal indeed

Yummy Yummy

We were supposed to get all the food that we wanted and be seated (and to stay put) at 4pm for the so called highlights of the event.

The Goodie Bags

Various Gifts

There's even a personalised sticker on each bag!

My Gift from Nan! *SNIFF*

All of us being V-ain

I think my dress tdy was definitely "fancier" than the one I wore to the D&D last night. Aiyoooo

Customised magnets!! How awesome is my friend, Ti, who made this!!!!

2hours flew like nothing at all! We didn't even have time to play a simple "orientation" game. My mum suggested that we should go to Asian Market Cafe next time since its buffet actually starts from 12 and ends at 5pm.

It's nice to be an adult once in awhile. Because every other time I met my friends with Tufeil, I always ended up playing with the children with not very much words exchanged my with own friends.

Despite my jovial exterior, I would prolly end up a loner if not for these 10 girls and their efforts. Bcos I'm really not good at keeping friends. I'd rather shop alone, watch movie alone, eat alone (w my book); I don't keep in touch with people, only reply when being msged, that kinda thing, ya know?

Next gathering, iftar in a month's time.

Le Masquerade

2011-07-20T18:56:00.000+08:00

Fri, 15th July 2011,

After months of preparation, the night finally came and gone. Phew~

But what I don't get is why everybody kept saying it was a good night, everything went smoothly? To me, it was the worst D&D ever and everything went wrong for me!!!

Firstly, after spending $97 at Dorothy Perkins for what i thought was a great dress turned out to be a very dull and drab (cotton sundress) amidst all the shiny and glittery dresses of my peers. SOB SOB SOB.

See! I was the dullest looking! Dgn tudung yg berserabai!

And then, my malay colleague who was supposed to accompany my French colleague to sit at the Halal table bailed on me. I went a bit frantic trying to get him on another table bcos our dept's table was full, until someone pointed out that there's no use to change since he also wouldn't know anybody else. He was a good sport eating the Malay dishes and getting to know the ladies.

YIKES!!! And I did really really terribly at the singing competition, damn it! There were 8 contestants. I identified a few good ones. I reckon it would be a tough fight among the Top 3. As it turned out, The Idol prolly got about 50% of the votes, 2nd place got about 37.% while i got 12.5%. Judging is based purely on audience votes.

Don't get me wrong, i'm very happy for the winner. She has a very very sweet voice. My angst lies on my poor performance at the most crucial moment. Gosh. I still squirm when I think about it, when I watch the video. VOMIT VOMIT! I feel sooooo utterly embarassed! It's prolly only thanks to my loyal fans (The Recclubbers, My dept, The Halal Table and this one other table) that I managed 3rd place.

I guess the event itself went quite smoothly. For example: there were no screw ups at the Registration Table making a long line of Queue like last year's. But what the non-organisers didn't see were:

1. One of the pre-event activities, Air Brush Tattoo, came super duper late.

2. And then I don't know why we started about 30mins later than expected that we had to scrap a couple of the emcee games to make up for it.

I know plans are just plans... just don't word it as something it's not.

First Free Weekend EVER!

2011-07-05T13:01:00.000+08:00

At the last minute, my parents decided to bring Tufeil along to their 2D 1N Port Dickson holiday cum wedding invitation for the weekend.

Of course, I was totally elated! This is my first ever free as a bird weekend! Let me see what did I do...

Sat, 2nd July 2011

Woke up at 7.30am to get Tufeil dressed. Watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy and back to bed from 10.30 to 2.30pm. It wasn't really refreshing bcos I kept getting nightmares of waking up late for my 4pm appointment. You know the kind where u though you've woken up but realise you're dreaming and your body is still on the bed?

4pm - Eye and face treatment at NYS.

6.30pm - Library. Found 4 of Mary Janice Davidson vampire queen's novels

7pm - Dinner @ Breeks with my books and beautiful Ice Cream Crumble. I had to specify to them that I want more crumble because the last time it was pitiful!

8pm - 10pm Changed bedsheet, vacuumed and mopped the house.

10pm onwards - watched more grey's anatomy and played SuperMarket Mania 2 while streaming the video (WHY SO SLOW NOWADAYS SINGTEL?!?!!?!?!)

11.30pm - ZZzzzz

Sun, 3rd July 2011

Had to wake up early (9.30am) because I have a singing practice at 10.45 at my friend's place. Followed by TRANSFORMERS

I'm really not a fan of Transformers and have not watched the prequels. But some told me it's easy to understand and its very nice. My take: Patrick Dempsey is the one and only saviour of the movie bcos i love him so much. lol! X-Men is defly more my thing.

Bought Tom Yam Banmian and ate at home in front of more Grey's Anatomy. In between, I baked a brownie, put on a load of laundry, folded the dry ones and hung up the washed ones.

Tufeil came home at 10.30pm already asleep. Although he did mutter "Mummy mummy" half asleep, he did not wake up until 5am where even in his daze he managed to say, "Mummy, Cantiknya!" (Pretty!) referring to the changed bedsheet. LOL.

It was reported that at night, he did not look for me. He fully understood I was not around. But it was a bit diff for him to sleep and ended up on my mum's chest from 2 - 6am. And I heard he had a lot of fun with his cousin's cousin (Syifaa's paternal cousins). He swam at the pool and everything.

There will be another Free weekend next week where I'm going to have my company's annual Dinner & Dance, Carousel Hi tea with Besties and possibly catching Harry Potter 7.2.

Urban Bites Part 2

2011-07-04T14:02:00.000+08:00

2 working days after visiting this mediterranean restaurant for the first time, we decided to come back and try other stuffs.

Moutabal $7
Lebanese bread $3 for 3 halves

I thought the moutabal (made of eggplants which I raved about during my Syria trip) was a bit creamy and heavy. It has a slight yellow/green tinge too when most of the ones I ate were plain white.

Their Snack - Chicken pide $5

Very unlike Turkish Cafe's pides (pee-day?). They were sour with too many diced onions (hate them) and no visible cheese (love them).

Ash's Beef Shawarma. She couldn't eat it and traded with me

I had to dissect it and picked my way thru it

There were pickles, tomato and fries in this wrap. I removed the tomato and pickles (vegephobic altho tomato is not really a vege) but still it was too.... sour for my liking. We deduced that it was the tahini sauce (white stuff on the beef strips, also an ingredient in the moutabal) that's ruining everything! I gave up trying to eat any of that. Instead I tore pieces of the unmutilated bread to eat w the moutabal.

I guess, we're all not foreign-tongued after all~ haha.

Cookie Time!

2011-07-04T13:48:00.000+08:00

Sat, 25th June 2011
Tufeil was so happy when I announced that we'll be making cookie. He was prolly excited to be eating the dough again! He tasted everything every step of the way. Even the butter and sugar mixture he said nice. *shake head*

Like an Indian boy w face paint

Should I be worried of bacteria??

Yummm

We don't have a kiddy table. So on the floor it is

Difficult to take it out

Tufeil's dough pressed over and over

He kept insisting to play with MY dough! Cheh. And he kept breaking my nicely cut-out but fragile elephants and bear! He didn't eat much of the dough this time around prefering to break them to tiny little pieces and scatter them around (outside the newspaper lining)! *heart pain trying to clean the mess*

But we did have fun. Hope to do it again when Syifaa' is around. And this time i think i should put T on the high chair to limit his destruction!

I picked a recipe from here but the dough was too soft i added some more. and even after baking double the time required, it didn't brown (as i like them). A few more minutes and it came out brown. And hard. but edible for adults and tasted very nice =)

Cardio Jam

2011-06-27T12:43:00.000+08:00

Just finished my 4th lesson of Cardio Jam and I'd like to think I'm getting better at it.

First lesson, a temp guy trainer taught us and it was awful cos i cld feel his lack of dedication. Without any clue how it was going to be, I was shocked at how strenuous it was! I also didnt have any sport shoes so i wore my comfortable mary jane instead and my knees hurt.

The next 2 days, my whole body ached like crazy. I blamed him for not stretching us properly.

Second week, Ange, our ex colleague who now owns her own dance/exercise mobile school, started. I still didnt have sportshoes so i went barefooted. It was horrible bcos i cldnt jump as it cld hurt my knees.

It was more fun w Ange bcos we know her and her style is very much like the previous dance instructor we had all gone for. She's attentive and corrects our posture and explains which muscle should be feeling some stretch, and that stretching your obliques (in various twisting moves) will help to tone your waistline. The most important thing is to focus everything on your core muscle: the abdomen. Always tuck it in (and therefore engaging it) when doing anything. Again helps you to slim your waistline.

Basically the session would start with some cardio moves incorporating some stretching movements like shoulder rotations while on the move, that make me feel like dying! And then proper stretches before we start being introduced to 5 or 7-steps routine. and then the winding down stretches which still involve a lot of abdominal engagement I can't really do.

On the 3rd week, I got my shoes already but was feeling a bit wheezy so I opted for lo-impact one - meaning there was no Jump in my steps. By the 4th week, the DYING feeling was very brief and I could even jump a bit. I'm loving it!

We actually have another Stretch & tone (basically Yoga, i think?) class on Wednesdays. But I didn't think it would be effective for me so i don't go for that one. Besides, My parents have class on wednesdays anyways.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the 5th lesson this friday! We only have a total of 12. And can't wait for the dance class to start next!

Urban Bites

2011-06-24T09:07:00.000+08:00

Ash & I discovered a new mediterranean restaurant yesterday! http://www.urbanbites.com.sg/ 123 Telok Ayer St (If you're coming from Amoy St Food Cte, its further down to the street from the mosque and after the temple)

They are not certified but food is halal. As is with everywhere in town during lunchtime, it was quite packed. But this one is quite popular with foreigners.

While, the service was a bit on the slow side, we were happy to wait to eat our Hummus and others! Plus now that Turkish Cafe at Amara is closed, this is the nearest mediterranean food to the office!

Colourful Blackboard
with self-service water and condiments

Towards the kitchen
And cheese and desserts display.
Found my Arabic cheese! WEEEEE

Me & The entrance

$10 set lunch is very attractive

Ash was saying this is prolly cheaper than Eatz19. But I said, let's see how the serving goes and also, drink is not included. $2 soft drink.

Mushroom Soup was ok but could be better
Just slightly watery w mushroom so small it seemed pulsed on the processor

After some 20min of waiting...

Salad, Dips and Main course of Lamb kebab on the same dish.

Totally reminded me of Syria trip last december... Coincidentally I was also wearing the jalabiyah from there too!

Anyways, it was my first time tasting a felafel and to me it was heaven. Very crunchy. But for Ash, she said she's tasted better *shrug*.

Very nice overall. But i think next time, I will order a whole plate of Moutabal ($7) and main of Chicken Pide($5)! I almost went crazy going through their menu, I feel like going there everyday!

Just Me in a Long Time

2011-06-21T14:39:00.000+08:00

Thursday, 16th June 2011.

Tufeil is out for the day and I squeezed in most of the things i needed to get done that day. I went for my eye treatment after such a long hiatus. The pause is caused by fungal infection (panau) on my face. While i suspected that it was because of the facial wash I bought at the Dead Sea, I also noticed that it got aggravated after each session so I stopped and waited for it to clear up using a medicinal cream called Fungicort.

Anyways, I forgot how lovely it feels afterwards. Because it's been so long, I immediately noticed the difference. I had been feeling so low because (among other things) my skin was so dull. I feel sorta rejuvenated now. Now that my parents don't have anymore classes on Sunday, I can start going regularly once and week.

I booked tickets to X-Men First Class online. Had only 20minutes after finished treatment. I was 4 minutes early but the Internet Booking collection counter was sooo slow, I missed the first 5min of the show boohoohoo =(

LOVE IT! Love that they told the story of how Beast came to be and how Prof X got paralysed. Believe it or not, I used to watch the cartoon a lot when I was in primary school. I mean its not really a girl kinda show but I had loved it even then. However, if you ask me, the actor playing Prof X looks too young and cheeky for my liking. HAHAHAHA

NEX with Sameer The Bhai.

2011-06-20T13:57:00.001+08:00

Wednesday, 15th June 2011.

Got a date with Nisa to check out NEX's wet playground.

Getting ready at home, I explained over and over again to Tufeil that we're going to meet Sameer Bhai (Nisa's son). I don't know why, when he repeated his name it turned out Sameer The Bhai. And it got kinda stuck, ever since!

The train ride was wonderful. @ 10+am not too much crowd, we both managed to get seats and we explored the window sights. We had an early lunch at MadJack's. There were not many people either. It was nice how Sameer was very friendly and didn't mind entertaining Tufeil while I get some decent chat with his mum.
It was very very hot when we finished our lunch and took a look at the wet playground. Unlike at Northpoint and IMM, the wet area here is very open with no "boundary" between wet and dry. The sitting area could use a few more shades.

He actually doesn't really like the water

Playing slides alone is no fun

Now THIS is FUN!

Sameer The Bhai trying to woo girls by spraying water on them. =)

Unfortunately, the play ended badly. After 20minutes or so, he got tired of the wet playground, he came to me to play with the iPhone. And then somehow, the phone slipped his hand and hit his foot. It bled. He cried. Nisa went to buy plasters but I smsed her in time saying the cleaners in the toilet managed to find some for him.

If you ask sadistic me, it's retribution for biting my index finger really hard when I was trying to brush his teeth (with my finger) and for knocking my forehead hard with iphone (there's still a bump now after a week). But then somebody ever told me that God doesn't work in that way. *shrug* In any case, I really don't understand why Tufeil is so violent. =( (But lately, i've been exerting myself more, was firm more. It was funny how quickly he adhered to my "command" once I put on a firm tone.)
Anyways, he promptly fell asleep and we went for ice cream. He woke up when we were at the library and then we went to see the fish pond he likes so much.

"Oh this is the fish pond you were talking about?"

Hmmm it seemed kinda small after the Underwater World. LOL.

And by the afternoon, his nose was getting runnier and the next day, he's got the cough. I totally blame myself.

Underwater World & Dolphin Lagoon

2011-06-20T09:57:00.000+08:00

Tuesday, 14th June 2011

I'm glad we decided to go to Sentosa to get the $25 promotion for Underwater world & Dolphin Lagoon + Free Cable car ride w Ly & Family. This would be Tufeil's first time here. But he's been to the Underwater world in Perth, although he might be too young to remember / understand anything. This time around he was excited as he recognised sharks and dolphins and sting-rays.

We were quite nervous taking two strollers into the cabin for fear we don't have enough time to board but it went smoothly. Thank God.

He was soo excited! Not scared at all!

I was just slightly anxious myself

Another shot facing camera

We had to take the Blue Line bus to the Underwater World. It was troublesome with stroller. Boarding was okay because there were officials helping us. Getting down, we had tourists lending us a hand! HAHAHA
I didn't really get to take pictures because it was dark inside. And outside at the touchpool, Tufeil was soooo... Active and excited, I had to hold him at all times. He squealed (yes, squealed) like nobody's business when the string ray fish got very close. He wasn't afraid to get very near but still wouldn't really touch them. I didn't either.

I did get one shot though.

A bit disappointing that the sharks were all very small. And they actually looked very loving as opposed to menacing! A few of them actually lied on top of each other at one corner to the aquarium. It was soo cute! And then there was a couple who napped with tails overlapping each other. Romantic or what!

Next up was the Dolphin Show.

I hate how the presenter, while speaking good English and all, couldn't say FLIPPER but FLIPPEL. WHY? WHY? WHY??!! And I hated how she only picked the ANG MOH (White) tourists to volunteer touch the animals! My sister was right when she pointed out, "Their country has more exotic animals." She was an Oz.

We came late and didn't get the best view but we did get front row seats at the side. Tufeil, I was surprised, sat still for 3/4 of the time.

2 Pink dolphins balancing balls

It was my first time too catching the dolphin show and it's cute but could be more. We had to pay another $16 to get up close w the sealion for a photo. But that's only for two people, so the kids got it.

Tufeil looking curiously at this strange creature

Admiring his flippeRs

It was 3pm by the time the show finished, and we haven't had lunch yet! We didn't wanna eat in Sentosa because it's too expensive, so we went back to Harbourfront Centre (where we parked the car to take the cable car) and ate at Banquet. Tufeil managed to get his 45min nap.

In the nursing / baby room @ HarbourFront

I might as well change Tufeil into another shirt cause he was sweating profusely earlier. I'm sure Tufeil felt a bit big brotherly seeing Baby Umar on the changing table next to him.

Sidenote: Nan, I couldn't get the suspender to hold on his shoulders! Should it be criss-crossed front and back??

Java Village @ Jurong Point 2

2011-06-17T22:23:00.001+08:00

Sunday 11th june 11

We had yet another late lunch outside before grocery shopping. Ayah treated us to this Indonesian cuisine.

We wete frustrated trying to order w a semi deaf waiter who didnt know abt d food when we askef. Nonetheless, The food arrived only 5min after our order! It's prolly pre-readied.

My Bali Daging (left) and Ly's Bakso (right)

It was reported tt the bakso was a bit disappointing. My beef though was soooo nice. Spicy, tender. Just delete the tofu and it wld hv bn perfect for me.

Kuah assam tasted much like malay's asam rebus/celok only sweeter. We liked it.

Mummy's gado2.

She loved it too. The gravy was super fine. When she described tt it tasted like peanut butter i got turned off as im not a PB fan.

Overall verdict: large bill small serving made us not want to return unless theres a huge discount or someone else is footing the bill.

PlayDate w Aisyah & Sarah

2011-06-17T17:45:00.000+08:00

Monday 13th June 2011,

We went to visit my internet friend from donkey years ago, Sis Norza. Her first daughter, Aisyah, went to Hanis too, only at a different branch. I marvelled at the activities she organised for her daughters at home because i can barely get Tufeil to do something for more than 10minutes before he'd be asking to be let out.

I brought along my one and only specialty, Beef Meatloaf & mashed potatoes, while she prepared Chicken Rice.
We busied ourselves with their extensive book collection.

Alamak Tufeil! How can sit on the table!

Lunch is served!

It was such a relief when I can eat in peace while T feeds himself!

I totally should get this kiddy table so Tufeil can feed himself properly. He's in the phase of not wanting to eat chicken. He only ate the rice with a bit of soup. Sometimes he would be distracted with the toy blocks, and then he'd go back to eating, play, eat, play, eat. As long as the plate is still there, he would eat. So I had to take it away and it was quickly forgotten.

Really, Tufeil eats ALL THE TIME!! I'm a bit worried!

In any case, next is COOKIE TIME! After Mdm Norza had prepared the dough, she set out brown paper and cookie cutters for the kids to play.

There were Doraemon and Doralin cutters! CUTE!

This is not powder, Tufeil, this is flour

Working the dough, baby yeah.

Finished products!

Watch the video how curious Tufeil was about the taste of raw dough. In the end, he ate more of the raw dough. I also took a teeny bite of it, just to know what Tufeil feels, its actually kinda nice. sweet. So I don't mind letting him eat more. HAHAHA

Sarah warmed up to Tufeil in the end

The moment we set out, i think close to 4pm?, Tufeil immediately slept in the stroller for a nap long overdue.

Next time, hopefully, Sis can come over to our place for us to return the favour of being waited upon the hosts. Thanks!!

SingKids PlaySystem

2011-06-17T14:20:00.000+08:00

Saturday 10th June 2011,

My parents brought us out to Airport Terminal 3. It was a cool day so I dressed Tufeil in long sleeves...

Bought the shirt @ Mothercare 3 months ago but nvr a suitable day to wear it.
The cap has been in the collection since he was maybe 6months old. Only now that he's started sch that he can tolerate headwears

I've heard of this new indoor playground at the airport but at $18/hour, i find it totally unnecessary when the kids would have the WHOLE WIDE space to run around. Unbeknownst to both mummy and me, Ayah was already at the queue at Singkids while I was buying takeaway lunch. Oh well, he offered to pay for both Tufeil and Syifaa' so I just tagged along.

The place was quite cramp with low ceiling and big structures but it was very colourful. Had Tufeil been slightly older he would thoroughly enjoy all the stations.

Balloon Room

This is definitely his favourite! He returned to this one a couple of times. See how the balloons are bigger than him! LOL

Nenek capturing us outside the fence.

Heavy-Weight Lifter

You don't hafta watch the video. It's just us all squealing over gigantic balloons being fanned and bounced around in tight spaces.

Water trampoline.. Hmmm.. I'll pass

Ball pit

Because it's impossible to get a decent still photo on the iphone, esply when you yourself almost drowned in a pool of ball, i took a video instead.

Bouncing House

I didn't bother to go in to this one. It's a bit embarrassing that a much younger toddler was so bravely bouncing himself (captured in video) but T had to be held!

Rotating Cylinder

This one looked very innocent. I tried it and got off all nauseated. I almost panicked when I couldn't move and thought I was gonna fall on top of myself. Maybe because I was fully clothed from head to toe that i found myself stuck.

I don't get this structure at all.

I wish I was light enough to have a go on this one!

Skates. Tufeil's legs were too short.

I like this shot

The space for this skating rink is *toot* but I guess it must be heaven for kids. I much prefer the big rides they had on the parking lot before.

That's when we discovered, they have another section and it's for smaller kids. Very much for Tufeil's age and motor skill.

Cutesy peanut ride!

Add caption

Cool slides with lights and mini waterfall!

They even had the same Balloon Room but with all small balloons. 10min before our 1hr was up, Tufeil already complained he was hungry, so we went to sit down and have Popeye's lunch that was already cold.

And then we walked all over. We wanted to sit down at the viewing mall to look at aeroplanes but the kids were already cranky as it was already 8pm and they had had quite a long day. In the end, I had to carry Tufeil (and he promptly fell asleep) and Ayah had to carry Syifaa' like what? 750m? I felt like DYING! I can't imagine how Dad was doing with more than twice the load I had.

But we survived.

Choc Chip Muffin

2011-06-15T22:20:00.001+08:00

Made this favourite of mine. While the taste was a success, the look was not.

I dont have muffin tins. LOL

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Short Holiday, Wish me Luck!

2011-06-10T17:21:00.000+08:00

My parents are going to Vietnam next week Mon-Thurs. That means I hafta take leave too to take care of Tufeil. Of course, ideally I should go to. Alas, @ $595 per adult and god knows how much for toddler, I can't afford it. Saving for December holiday, instead.

I'm a little nervous at the prospect of being with my own child 24 hours a day for almost 8 days straight. Almost because, I'll get a brief respite on Fri when I get back to work before the weekend hits again. Having said that, my schedule is quite jam packed already. We'll be going out almost everyday... Or rather, T would. We'll be meeting two of my housewife friends I haven't met in so long and we got a birthday party to get to this Sunday.

Actually, the biggest fear I have is a second start to weaning T off breastmilk. Because I've been through it before in March and it was VERY VERY VERY VERY TOUGH, I almost dread to face it again now. But I told myself, June should be a good time to start. For one, he's almost 2yrs 3 months. Another, it's the school holidays, so whatever sleep he's gonna lose due to discomfort wouldn't affect school.

This time around though, I'm gonna arm myself with vinegar. I'm just trying to figure out how to apply it in the middle of the night when T wakes up and cries. I mean, I can't just leave him in the room to go to the toilet and put it now, can I?

I've heard of a friend's friend who took 6 weeks to wean off their 2yr. He cried for 6 weeks straight. Imagine that! But I bet the child slept through the night, so at least that's bearable. Tufeil wakes up every 2hours. Everytime he woke up the last time I was training him, I'd hafta carry him around for another 30minutes or so before he'd go back to sleep. Even then sometimes, he would instantly wake up again when i tried to put him down on the bed.

Why can't he be an angel and accept my hugs and kisses and soothing voice in place of the BM???

Peach Cobbler

2011-06-06T11:15:00.000+08:00

Thanks to Bermudabuttercup for sharing the recipe. (See ingredients and instructions at the end)

The batter. Totally cheated by using mixer.

Had to ply him w Peach and biscuits bcos i'm using the phone to read the recipe

Just before entering the oven

After. A bit burnt, is it?

If I were to do it again, I would not use the HEAVY SYRUP that comes in the can. I mistook that as the "fruit juice" indicated in the recipe. It became tooooo sweet even though I omitted the second sprinkle of sugar. I'd opt for just water I think.

And I would not put the whole big can of peach in there. A bit of an overkill if u ask me. I would just cover ever surface with one is enough.

Of course, Tufeil digged it soo much he had it for dinner last night and this morning for bfast! *slap forehead*

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

2 cups fresh peaches, pitted and sliced or 1 big can of peaches

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups water (or less) or the juice from the fruits.

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter a 9x9 inch glass baking pan.

2.In a large bowl, cream the butter and 1/2 cup sugar.

3.In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt and baking powder. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk.

4.Spread mixture evenly into baking dish .

5.If using canned peaches, drain thoroughly, reserving the juice. Spoon fruit over batter.

6.Sprinkle with cinnamon and 1/4 cup sugar. Pour fruit juice (not heavy syrup!!) or water over the top.

7.Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 45 to 55 minutes. During baking the fruit and juice go to the bottom and the batter rises.